Coastal zones

Intended to promote effective application of the biodiversity Convention in coastal and marine environments. It is based in large part on the recommendation of the "Jakarta Mandate" agreed to by the Parties to the Convention at their Second Conference in Jakarta in November 1995 and which identified the major threats to marine and coastal biodiversity and the principal legal and policy measures needed to address them.

This report provides a basis for development and implementation of a global system of marine protected areas to protect and manage representative examples of the world's rich marine biodiversity. It identifies priorities for establishing new marine protected areas and improving management of existing ones in each of the world's 18 major regions.

This report signals a new approach to ocean monitoring and management that lays a solid base using the principles of ecology and sustainable development while transcending traditional geopolitical and disciplinary divisions. LMEs are relatively large regions, often including the territorial waters of more than one nation, thus making coordination of monitoring and management highly desirable.