Ocean ecosystems are remarkably resilient. When coastal communities invest in restoring and protecting marine areas, they experience more sustainable fisheries, stronger local economies, and reliable food security. At the same time, these efforts have far-reaching impacts, protecting marine biodiversity, reducing storm damage, and capturing carbon to mitigate climate change—benefits that extend to everyone.
But these benefits take a long time, which is not always an option for coastal communities.
For many local fishers, business owners, and community leaders, the immediate challenges of marine area closures, implemented to protect and restore the ecosystem, can outweigh the benefits that may arise months, years, or decades in the future.
Recognizing this challenge, a multinational team of marine scientists and economists introduced Marine Prosperity Areas (MPpAs)—a new framework designed to balance ecological restoration with human well-being.
Marine Prosperity Areas chart a course for conservation that balances ecological urgency with human well-being. By weaving together expertise across disciplines and prioritizing community-led initiatives, this approach envisions a future where coastal communities flourish in harmony with revitalized marine ecosystems—an essential piece for achieving global goals, such as safeguarding 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030.
"The overall message that we're trying to convey is that conservation and resource management tools are not mutually exclusive, they should be working together toward a common goal."
The MPpAs approach doesn’t discount existing approaches like Marine Protected Areas—designated zones where human activity like fishing or drilling is limited to protect marine ecosystems and biodiversity. Rather, it complements these efforts with targeted financial investments in people during periods of active ecological restoration so that they benefit alongside the conservation efforts. The new framework represents a more integrated strategy that balances environmental conservation with economic and community well-being. Prosperity for people in this case is defined as the satisfaction of basic needs like food, water, shelter, and community, education and the proliferation of knowledge that cultivates a strong shared sense of environmental stewardship and symbiosis.
“The overall message that we’re trying to convey is that conservation and resource management tools are not mutually exclusive, they should be working together toward a common goal,” said Catalina López-Sagástegui, a researcher with the Gulf of California Marine Program at the Institute of the Americas and co-author of the paper.
The concept emerged from a decade of fieldwork and observation on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), fisheries, and coastal habitats in Baja California Peninsula, Mexico, and throughout the Gulf of California—one of the world’s most important marine hotspots. The team discovered that successful conservation projects shared key characteristics despite existing in vastly different contexts.
The Marine Prosperity Area framework begins with community engagement and co-design, bringing local people together to define what prosperity looks like. Then infrastructure and governance frameworks are established to strengthen community leadership, set up legal protections, and ensure enforcement measures. Finally, monitoring, enforcement, and co-management practices are created so the approach can adapt over time.
In action, this could look like seed funding to promote ecotourism in an oceanside town by supporting community-based diving or snorkeling businesses; grants that help locals establish sustainable aquaculture initiatives; or funds for technological efforts to create artificial reefs for environmental restoration.
The publication describes several successful case studies including the establishment of Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park in 1995, where scientists, the Mexican government officials, and the local community co-designed a marine reserve to replenish local fish populations and clean up pollution.
“We’ve gotten positive feedback,” López-Sagástegui said of the publication. “People are interested in duplicating the framework in other parts of the Pacific or even in the Caribbean.”
The Packard Foundation supports the Institute of the Americas Gulf of California Marine Program, one of the contributors to the publication, in its work to generate scientific data through collaborative efforts and sharing key findings to improve fisheries management, habitat and species conservation, and resource sustainability in the Gulf of California and Mexican marine ecosystems.
“Marine Prosperity Areas integrate marine conservation with local well-being, aligning with the approach that many of our grantee partners in Mexico have developed over time,” said Gabriela Anaya, Senior Ocean Advisor for the Packard Foundation. “One key lesson from our grantee partners’ work is that, for this approach to be truly effective, initiatives must emerge from local agendas, rather than being externally driven, centering communities as active architects of change.”
The Packard Foundation is committed to a thriving, resilient ocean that sustains marine life, supports coastal communities, and helps regulate our global climate. The Foundation partners with leaders and organizations worldwide to drive lasting progress in ocean science and conservation. This work contributes to sustainable and equitable fisheries management, supports ocean-reliant communities, and advances ocean-based climate solutions to safeguard marine health and address local needs. By working together, we can protect and restore the ocean for both people and nature—now and for future generations.
