Transboundary MPAs

Nature rarely notices political boundaries. Most of the arbitrarily-drawn political boundaries dividing the Earth into countries were delineated as a result of wars or political compromises, often by geographers never even having set eyes on the land. As a result, these political divisions frequently have severed functioning ecosystems. Although neither animals nor plants recognise these arbitrary boundaries, the fact that humans do often threatens the continued survival of the other species and the ecosystems. As conservation biologists have begun to emphasise the importance of larger-scale ecosystem-based management and regional approaches to biodiversity conservation, political boundaries dividing ecosystems have become even more problematic.

Protected areas that meet across international borders provide important opportunities for collaboration between managers and scientists in neighbouring countries. Various terms are used to describe these areas - transboundary protected areas, transfrontier protected areas, and peace parks are the most common. These areas provide possibilities for promoting biodiversity conservation and sustainable use across politically divided ecosystems, while at the same time encouraging international collaboration in management, the sharing of experience and the sharing of information.

In a 1999 review 136 clusters of adjoining protected areas, or transboundary protected area complexes were identified. These clusters include 488 different protected areas, 415 with IUCN designations, that adjoin others both within countries and across international frontiers. Together these clusters or complexes cover at least 10% of the total area of all protected areas in the world. Usually containing more than two individual protected areas, up to as many as 13, they often provide contiguous habitat for species. The 136 complexes involve 98 different countries: four were marine, involving (1) Denmark, Germany and Netherlands, (2) India and Bangladesh, (3) Malaysia and Philippines, and (4) Costa Rica and Panama.