Vanua Levu's Nagigi community want to create an aqoliqoli  - a short-term no take marine protected area - to ensure a sustainable future.  

What are the factors that can contribute towards marine protected areas that have both positive ecological AND socio-economic outcomes?

Nathan Bennett has been actively researching the links between the environment and human societies for many years.

Marine protected areas differ if how much protection they offer, and some may in reality not offer much more protection than you get in the rest of the ocean anyway. Why does this happen? Politics.

One of the main problems with valuing ecosystem services lies in how they are valued, because there is no one set procedure for doing so. What you can end up with is a value that only reflects what you chose to place a value on.

Simply calling an area of ocean a 'marine protected area' does not make it so

So my lovely readers living out in the USA, just how much of the marine ecosystem in your state waters is afforded strong protection? Probably not that much.