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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Conservation and Sustainability
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1358950

UNDERSTANDING MARINE PROTECTED AREAS AS SOCIO-ECOSYSTEMS: A METHOD FOR DEFINING SOCIO-ECONOMIC CRITERIA IN MARINE PLANNING

Provisionally accepted
Camila Pegorelli Camila Pegorelli *Maria De Andres Maria De Andres Javier García-Onetti Javier García-Onetti Silvia Rayo Luengo Silvia Rayo Luengo Javier García Sanabria Javier García Sanabria
  • University of Cádiz, Cádiz, Spain

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This research aims to define socio-economic criteria for prioritizing proposals related to new marine protected areas, boundary adjustments, area relocations, and network corridors within marine management approaches. The study also focuses on identifying Ecosystem Services (ES) that address the social dimensions of various spatial management approaches in the marine realm. The presented method quantifies nature's significance to human communities through stakeholder perceptions, bridging the gap between human activities and ecosystem services. The research defines essential socio-economic criteria, identifies the corresponding ecosystem services, and assesses their societal values within the socio-ecological system of a specific area, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of marine management processes such as Marine Spatial Planning and Marine Protected Areas.

    Keywords: Ecosystem services valuation, ecosystem based management, ocean sustainability, Marine Spatial Planning (MSP), Stakeholder perception

    Received: 20 Dec 2023; Accepted: 09 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Pegorelli, De Andres, García-Onetti, Rayo Luengo and García Sanabria. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Camila Pegorelli, University of Cádiz, Cádiz, Spain

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.