Enforcing ocean governance cooperation through transboundary marine protected areas: establishing opportunities and overcoming challenges

The different pressures from human activities, such as marine and land-based pollution or IUU fishing, that are affecting the safety and health of the ocean, as well as the well-being of present and future generations, has made the international community emphasise the need to protect and preserve the ocean through the establishment of ecosystem-based management instruments such as marine protected areas. In this chapter, the latter have been examined as a tool that can be used by two or more States, with or without the collaboration of other stakeholders such as global, regional, subregional, and sectoral bodies, as well as the civil society, the scientific community, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, particularly when it concerns the establishment of networks of MPAs under the new BBNJ Agreement. The chapter also demonstrates that beside the opportunities that exist in designating and managing transboundary MPAs, these ecosystem-based management tools also face challenges, which, however, do not dampen the positive multiplier effects that they bring in the achievement of ocean governance in the world.