Why Enforcement Isn’t Enough: A New Framework for Improving Compliance in Marine Protected Areas
Format: Virtual
Date and time
Tuesday 1 December 2026, 2:00 PM EST / 11:00 AM PST / 9:00 AM HST / 7:00 PM UTC (5:00 AM AEST, 2 December).
About this event
Noncompliance regularly undermines the effectiveness of marine protected areas worldwide. Its drivers vary, from insufficient funding and capacity to neocolonialism and historical conflict, yet the most common response is increased enforcement. That response is reactive rather than proactive, does not address the human issues involved, and does not by itself ensure greater compliance.
Presented by Brock Bergseth (James Cook University), Catherine Moltzen (University of New England), Michael Guilbeaux (University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo), Cory Pukini (The Waitt Institute), and Chris Wilcox (WildAid), this webinar sets out a new adaptive management framework for compliance in MPAs, built around six elements, which together give practitioners a structured way to understand and manage compliance behaviour. Drawing on decades of MPA management experience across diverse cultural and regulatory contexts, from small community tabu areas in Papua New Guinea to large-scale parks such as the Great Barrier Reef, the presenters will show how tailored interventions can make better use of limited management resources.
What to expect
- The six elements of the framework: a regulatory basis, a situational assessment and conceptual model, data and information gathering, risk assessment and strategic planning, compliance treatments, and monitoring and reporting effectiveness
- Case experience ranging from Papua New Guinea community tabu areas to the Great Barrier Reef
- Tailored interventions including strategic communication, normative approaches, and risk-based enforcement
- Presenters from academia, The Waitt Institute, and WildAid
Location
Online.
Organiser
OCTO; presenters from James Cook University, University of New England, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, The Waitt Institute, and WildAid.
Registration