Estuaries

The Maduganga estuary and mangrove islets are a complex coastal wetland ecosystem situated in the southern part of Sri Lanka. Currently not a protected area, Maduganga has been recognised as a priority wetland for conservation because of its rich biodiversity.

This is a new editon of the classic textbook on marine protected area (MPA) management in the tropics, originally produced as an output of the Bali World Parks Congress in 1982. Approaches to planning and managing MPAs have evolved considerably. Major advances include innovative financing mechanisms, partnerships with the private sector and NGOs, and collaborative management between government and coastal communities.

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.

This book is intended as a guide for the increasing number of people who find themselves with mandates to plan either national systems of marine and coastal protected areas or individual sites.