Marine protected areas: from conservation to sustainable development

International audienceAfter a period during which MPAs were instrumentalised as a palliative against the inadequacy of a fisheries management conventional approach, the multi-use character of these areas prevailed, conflicts were pacified by instilling a participative process and a plurality of goals is now fully recognised. Thus MPAs are becoming both a tool and a preferred context for sustainable development in its ecological, economic and social dimensions and applied through a participatory approach that entitles local communities to both create and manage this type of area. This article will discuss the full range of these changes and how MPAs' goals have evolved with time, from a priority granted to conservation to the recognition of a plurality of goals. This article will then examine to what extent the results obtained by MPAs working toward each one of these goals make them valuable examples of areas where the requirements of sustainable development are met