Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are clearly defined geographical spaces recognised, dedicated and managed through legal or other effective means to achieve the long-term conservation of nature. MPAs work by reducing human interaction with resources, thereby allowing the resources to replenish. Although MPAs cannot reduce all problems related to marine resources, they may reduce some anthropogenic-related problems and may enhance the resiliency of marine resources to various stressors.
In the Philippines, establishing MPAs is one of the most achievable modes of protection in relation to coastal resource management. MPAs can be categorized into two governance levels: nationally established MPAs and locally established MPAs. The country’s first MPA was formed in 1974 and currently, there is a total of 1,800 MPAs in the Philippines, with many supported and funded by various conservation organizations.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has long pioneered the establishment and upkeep of protected areas in the Philippines’ largest coral reef systems. In 2007, WWF and the local government of Sablayan in Mindoro initiated the total closure of Apo Reef, the country’s largest coral reefs system, for fishing. By 2011, 7 percent of Philippines’ reefs are within MPAs. To ensure sustainability of the MPAs, a local collaboration of government and nongovernmental organizations called the MPA Support Network was formed to build capacity for MPA management.
In addition, there are also many conservation targets related to MPAs based on international agreement and plans of the Philippine government. National targets for MPA coverage were declared in the 1998 Fisheries Code, which calls for protection of 15 percent of municipal waters within no-take MPAs, and the Philippine Marine Sanctuary Strategy of 2004, which calls for 10 percent of coral reefs within no-take MPAs by 2020. Recent conservation targets includes the Coral Triangle Initiative by the Philippine government in 2009, which aims to have a significant percentage of marine habitats (which includes the coral reefs system) to be under some form of protection and having MPAs effectively managed.