ELI Ocean Program: MPAs
Marine Protected Areas
This report, titled Legal Framework for Marine Protected Area Enforcement in Three Bays National Park, Haiti: Challenges and Opportunities, fills gaps in information or analysis on MPA enforcement in Haiti, including key elements such as MPA regulations, enforcement powers, penalties and adjudication of violations. The report also provides recommendations on relevant regional best practices.
This Handbook is a new resource for countries seeking to improve enforcement of their existing MPAs or to write legal instruments for the creation of new MPAs with an eye on compliance and enforcement. The handbook presents a variety of legal tools to improve MPA enforcement and compliance, together with sample legal provisions that countries may use to implement these reforms through national legislation, international agreements, or other instruments.
Well designed state and local laws can protect marine resources that are essential for the economic and environmental health of coastal areas. Our Policy Brief provides an overview of the MPA landscape in the United States, in order to support sustainable marine protection policies.
Enforcement is a critical element of MPA design and implementation that requires explicit legal authority. Our report presents a comparative assessment of enforcement provisions in fisheries and national parks legislation in eight Caribbean nations.
See the Ocean Program's framework for understanding and assessing MPA laws from the July/August issue of the Environmental Forum.
Our state-by-state report provides assessments of authority for marine protection, which is essential for effective governance of marine resources.
As part of our Ocean Seminar Series, we periodically host seminars on topics related to marine protected areas. Check this page often for updates to our seminar schedule.
View our "Past Seminar" page for details about previous ELI seminars on topics related to marine protected areas and other ocean issues.