As the conservation of marine resources becomes a growing global priority, the concept of marine protected areas (MPAs) is being widely propagated. Since most MPAs are located in coastal areas of great biodiversity, their development has direct relevance and concern to the livelihoods, culture and survival of small-scale and traditional fi shing and coastal communities. An MPA is considered to be any coastal or marine area in which certain uses are regulated to conserve natural resources, biodiversity, and historical and cultural features. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) defi nes an MPA as “any defi ned area within or adjacent to the marine environment, together with its overlying waters and associated fl ora, fauna, and historical and cultural features, which has been reserved by legislation or other effective means, including custom, with the effect that its marine and/or coastal biodiversity enjoys a higher level of protection than its surroundings”. As an area-based management tool, MPAs are considered useful in implementing both the ‘ecosystem approach’ and the ‘precautionary approach’, since their design involves managing pressures from human uses by adopting a degree of protection, which can range from strict protection, where all use activities are barred, to less stringent measures like sanctioning areas where multiple uses are allowed and regulated. In 2004, the Seventh Meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP7) to the CBD agreed that marine and coastal protected areas, implemented as part of a wider marine and coastal management framework, are one of the essential tools for the conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity. The meeting noted that marine and coastal protected areas have been proven to contribute to (a) protecting biodiversity; (b) sustainable use of components of biodiversity; and (c) managing confl ict, enhancing economic well-being and improving the quality of life. Following on this, Parties to the CBD subsequently agreed to bring at least 10 per cent of the world’s marine and coastal ecological regions under protection by 2012. In 2006, only an estimated 0.6 per cent of the world’s oceans were under protection.