Outcomes from the Canberra workshop

The Canberra workshop focused on new ways to approach old problems in coastal marine protected areas and inevitably found much of interest in the Biosphere Reserve model. However, the paucity of viable marine and coastal examples of marine Biosphere Reserves shows that the approach has not achieved understanding or acceptance among the Marine Protected Area management community. Emphasizing the need for new paradigms and novel approaches, a firm conviction held that MPA managers must (1) know the facts relating to the physical environment and social conditions within which management is to occur; (2) communicate the facts in both directions in an iterative manner; and (3) identify broad, explicit targets.