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Regardless of where we live, all of us depend upon healthy ocean ecosystems: either as a source of food or revenue, or as a key shaper and regulator of climate and weather. This dependency and the need to embrace sustainable development led nations of the world to agree to a series of high-level political commitments for marine conservation and marine protected areas. The World Summit on Sustainable Development, the 5th World Parks Congress, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the G8 Group of Nations have all called for the establishment of a global system of marine protected area (MPA) networks by the year 2012. In line with this commitment are strategies of marine conservation organizations and some governments to increase the development, use and effective management of MPAs as a tool for marine conservation across the oceans.

This publication was made possible through the generous support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the UK Darwin Initiative, European Commission, and the International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN). It represents a joint undertaking by the following organizational members of the Locally-Managed Marine Area (LMMA) Network: the World Resources Institute (WRI), the Applied Science Institute of the University of the South Pacific (USP), the Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific International Secretariat (FSPI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) South Pacific Programme. Various drafts of this document have been used in facilitating Community-Based Adaptive Management (CBAM) in several South Pacific countries over the past eight years and it is therefore a "living" document. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors.

This publication was made possible through the generous support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the UK Darwin Initiative, European Commission, and the International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN). It represents a joint undertaking by the following organizational members of the Locally-Managed Marine Area (LMMA) Network: the World Resources Institute (WRI), the Applied Science Institute of the University of the South Pacific (USP), the Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific International Secretariat (FSPI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) South Pacific Programme. Various drafts of this document have been used in facilitating Community-Based Adaptive Management (CBAM) in several South Pacific countries over the past eight years and it is therefore a "living" document. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors.