The potential impacts of global climate change on marine protected areas

The potential effects of global climate change on marine protected areas do not appear to have been addressed in the literature. This paper examines the literature on protected areas, conservation biology, marine ecology, oceanography, and climate change, and reviews some of the relevant differences between marine and terrestrial environments. Frameworks and classifications systems used in protected area design are discussed. Finally, a framework that summarizes some of the important oceanographic processes and their links to the food chain are reviewed. Species abundance and distribution are expected to change as a result of global climate change, potentially compromising the efficacy of marine protected areas as biodiversity conservation tools. This review suggests the need for: further interdisciplinary research and the use of linked models; an increase in marine protected areas for biodiversity conservation and as research sites for teasing apart fishing effects from climate effects; a temporally responsive approach to siting new marine protected areas, shifting their locations if necessary; and large-scale ecosystem/integrated management approaches to address the competing uses of the oceans and boundary-less threats such as global climate change and pollution.