Marine Protected Areas and Other Zonally Linked Management Tools: International Legal Issues

The development of the legal framework for the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) and other zonal management tools is due to the need to establish their nature (environmental or socio-economically oriented); to determine the interaction of the norms of international environmental law and maritime law; to ensure the harmonization of the rules for the establishment of MPAs and their regimes in national and international law in order to take into account the characteristics of ecosystems. The research is aimed at improving the efficiency of establishing MPAs and other zonal management tools by harmonizing the conceptual apparatus, identifying key features of marine protected areas and separating them from related international legal instruments.
International legal acts define the MPA as a zoning tool aimed exclusively at preserving the natural environment and biodiversity, in which, depending on the category of protected areas, the International Union for Conservation of Nature prohibit the withdrawal of resources except for traditional fishing. The indicated approach causes a conflict of types of use of biodiversity, non-perception by users of significant restrictions on activities, and contains the risk of becoming a political tool for restricting the activities of states.
MPAs are a type of zonally linked management tools. They consist of a clearly defined geographical area and applicable measures that entail the preservation of the environment.
It is necessary to move to a more flexible management model of MPAs, allowing for the sustainable use of the biological resources of the area. MPAs and other zonal tools should have a multi-purpose character. In most cases, in addition to environmental characteristics, socio-economic, scientific, educational and cultural characteristics of the space are taken into account to establish them.
It is erroneous to identify the management tool with the space and exclude response measures from it. Most of the acts justifiably do not contain a list of protective measures, leaving room for the most effective definition of measures, taking into account the goals set and the factors of establishing MPAs. However, it seems reasonable to define in regulatory legal acts the procedure for resolving conflicts of types of use within the same and between different instruments.

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