Governance of Marine Protected Areas in Developing Countries : an Analysis Framework. Evidence from Thailand

Abstract

International audience ; The main aim of this paper is the design of an analysis framework for the governance of MPAs in developing countries. The working-out of this analysis framework makes use of contributions from the governance of hazardous activities, the interactive fisheries governance, the ecosystem-based management applied to marine protected areas, the MPAs governance indicators, the anthropology of brokerage. This analysis framework takes in count four main issues of the MPAs governance in developing countries pointed out from two representative case studies (Mu Ko Chumphon National Park in Thailand and Ca Mau National Park in Vietnam) : the revitalization of regulatory systems of the access to fisheries resources, the simplification of the administrative processes, the control of the demographic pressure which result from a high increase of the populations and a strong mobility, the lowering of the economic vulnerability and poverty alleviation due to the deregulation. This analysis framework makes it possible to characterize the governance systems and to put forward the weaknesses : the excessive role play by the international organizations, the too sectorial and technical aspect of fisheries management measures, the incomplete decentralization, the fragmentation of the States and the civil society. To mitigate these deficiencies, four general public policy options adapted to developing countries are proposed.