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of human uses in a way that respects the complexities and limits of ecosystems and their
functioning with a view to long-term sustainability (Vierros et al. , 2006 ). By providing a
means to implement the ecosystem approach, MSP has the potential to greatly improve
management, reduce the loss of ecosystem services, to help to address or avoid conflict,
and to create economies of scale and efficiencies for enforcement and management (CBD,
2012 ) .
According to a study undertaken by the CBD, the equitable sharing of benefits and
accountability have been key to longer lasting support for MSP by stakeholders. MSP is
primarily about forward planning of space for all human uses and non-uses in the marine
environment, followed by the implementation of such plans. MSP is not an end in itself,
and it is not a policy. The crucial difference between MSP and other area based manage-
ment is that MSP is strategic and forward looking rather than reactive and developer led
(CBD, 2012 ).
Within the broader, multiple use framework of MSP, or even without such an over-
arching framework, the ecosystem approach can also be pursued at the sectoral level.
For example, in Australia all fishery management agencies and jurisdictions have adopted
EBFM as a policy goal, and implementation has progressed to various levels. For example,
in federally managed fisheries, all have been subject to a comprehensive ecological risk
assessment process (Hobday et al ., 2011 ) and this has been developed further by the regu-
lator,theAustralian Fisheries Management Authority,intoenvironmental riskmanagement
plans (AFMA, 2012 ) . These deal with a range of impacts of fishing beyond the target spe-
cies, including impacts on by-catch, protected species, benthic habitats, and food chains.
Assessment of comprehensive ecosystem management plans for fisheries is now possible
through the use of ecosystem models of marine systems (Fulton et al ., 2011 ) .
An example of transnational management using the ecosystem approach occurs in the
Sundarban, which lies on the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna rivers on the
Bay of Bengal. Sunderban is the largest contiguous mangrove area in the world, with high
species richness of mangroves, and considerable structural diversity of the forest, includ-
ing providing habitat for the threatened Royal Bengal tiger ( Panthera tigris tigris ). The
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