Marine Protected Areas and Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures

• Published in: Arctic Review on Law and Politics
• Main Authors: Suzanne Lalonde, Aslan Abashidze, Alexander Solntsev
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Norwegian
• Published: Cappelen Damm Akademisk NOASP 2022
• Subjects: arctic; marine protected areas; other effective area-based conservation measures; canada; russia; geo; envir; Arctic; Canada; Arctic review on law and politics
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.23865/arctic.v13.3352; https://doaj.org/article/a9a7044cdaff4d96aa54b2d56359dd1f

As the Earth’s changing climate has deepened into a climate crisis, the Arctic region has emerged as one of the clearest indicators of the scale and pace of that change. As the ice melts, opportunities are expanding to exploit the Arctic’s oil and gas reserves, precious metals, fish stocks and maritime routes. Increased access and development will inevitably generate “system-wide environmental impacts” and will pose novel management challenges for the Arctic states. In the quest to find an effective balance between competing ocean activities and actors, marine protected areas (MPAs) and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) have emerged as indispensable tools to achieve ocean health, including in the Arctic. After first introducing these concepts, this article will discuss the Canadian and Russian domestic regimes for the establishment of MPAs and OECMs. The conclusion will then offer some insights into the key challenges confronting both states in the creation of effective networks of MPAs and OECMs in their Arctic regions.