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POLICY AND PRACTICE REVIEWS article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Conservation and Sustainability
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1491483

Marine Prosperity Areas: A framework for aligning ecological restoration and human well-being using area-based protections

Provisionally accepted
Octavio Aburto-Oropeza Octavio Aburto-Oropeza 1*Valentina Platzgummer Valentina Platzgummer 2Erica M. Ferrer Erica M. Ferrer 3Catalina López-Sagástegui Catalina López-Sagástegui 4Rocío Abud Mirabent Rocío Abud Mirabent 5América Ávalos Galindo América Ávalos Galindo 5Fabio Favoretto Fabio Favoretto 1Alfredo Giron-Nava Alfredo Giron-Nava 6Isabel Mendoza Camacho Isabel Mendoza Camacho 7Claudia Nuñez Sañudo Claudia Nuñez Sañudo 5Marisol Plascencia de La Cruz Marisol Plascencia de La Cruz 2Alejandro Robles Alejandro Robles 8
  • 1 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, United States
  • 2 Centro para la Biodiversidad Marina y la Conservación A.C., La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico
  • 3 University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, United States
  • 4 Institute of the Américas, La Jolla, United States
  • 5 Fundación Coppel, Mexico City, Mexico
  • 6 World Economic Forum (Switzerland), Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 7 SUCEDE Sociedad en Acción, La Reforma, Sinaloa, Mexico
  • 8 NOS Noroeste Sustentable A.C., La Paz, BCS, Mexico

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

    Mechanisms for marine ecological protection and recovery, including area-based conservation tools like 'Marine Protected Areas' (MPAs) are necessary tools to reach the Aichi Target or the forthcoming 30x30 target set by the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework. However, full ecosystem recovery takes years to manifest and the idea that MPA protection alone will foster human well-being is frequently contradicted by socio-economic evidence. Therefore, a new framework for marine area-based conservation and ecosystem restoration that reconciles the discrepancies between ecological recovery and socio-economic growth timelines is needed to effectively meet global biodiversity conservation targets. We introduce the concept of ‘Marine Prosperity Areas,’ (MPpA) an area-based conservation tool that prioritizes human prosperity as opposed to passively relying on ecosystem recovery to catalyze social change and economic growth. This concept leverages a suite of tried-and-true community-based intervention and investment strategies to strengthen and expand access to environmental science, social goods and services, and the financial perks of the blue economy. This data-driven framework may be of interest to stakeholders who support traditional area-based conservation models, but also to those who have been historically opposed to MPAs or have been excluded from past conservation processes.

    Keywords: marine conservation, blue economy, Recovery times, narrative and storytelling, Community Engagement, Gulf of California

    Received: 04 Sep 2024; Accepted: 20 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Aburto-Oropeza, Platzgummer, Ferrer, López-Sagástegui, Abud Mirabent, Ávalos Galindo, Favoretto, Giron-Nava, Mendoza Camacho, Nuñez Sañudo, Plascencia de La Cruz and Robles. 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: Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, United States

    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.