Ecology and Education in Marine Protected Areas: Insights from Brazil and South America - Earth Stewardship: Linking Ecology and Ethics in Theory and Practice - page 341

with the evaluation of their effectiveness by long-term, site-based ecological and
socio-economic research, in Brazil MPAs are aiming to implement a holistic
approach. This will allow the development and testing of environmental practices
that integrate ecology, economy, ethics, and confl ict resolution in the different uses
of marine space. However, ecological long-term studies, socio-economic long-term
evaluation, and the integration of education and ethics are still incipient. With the
recent creation of some independent networks in different South American coun-
tries related to the assessment of biological communities, marine biologists of this
continent are now focusing more on: (1) sharing methodologies and data to allow
comparative and integrated continental analyses, and (2) integrating social compo-
nents, including not only economic but also ethical values and participatory
approaches. Toward this aim, the Chilean Long Term Socio- Ecological Research
network (LTSER-Chile) has developed a Field Environmental Philosophy program
that could be adapted to MPAs educational programs, and also contribute to the
integration of ecology and ethics in theory and praxis for an Earth Stewardship
initiative.

Keywords Benthic ecosystems • Environmental education • Long term research
• Marine protected areas • Monitoring

23.1 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in South America

South American coastal habitats include a wide range of benthic ecosystems, many
of which are unique and constitute hotspots of biodiversity (Miloslavich et al. 2011 ),
such as the kelp forests on the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve and the coral reefs of
the Tropical Atlantic. These ecosystems can occupy extensive areas, such as the
rhodolith beds and mangrove forests along the Tropical Southwestern Atlantic.
In addition to global threats imposed by Global Environmental Change (GEC),
these ecosystems are endangered by local and regional stressors, thereby risking a
series of ecosystem services provided by them (Turra et al. 2013 ; see Orenstein and
Groner 2015 in this volume [Chap. 18 ]).
The time for mitigating GEC is over, and the application of adaptation measures
has come to the forefront (Heffernan 2012 ). The past decade presented an excep-
tional number of unprecedented extreme weather events (Coumou and Rahmstorf
2012 ); some of them, such as hurricanes and heat waves, directly impacting marine
communities. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are considered a key management
tool to buffer GEC by conserving biodiversity, preventing overexploitation of
marine communities, and presenting potential economic benefi ts such as
enhancement of local fi sheries, sustainable tourism opportunities, and maintenance
of other ecosystem services (Sala et al. 2013 ; Lubchenco et al. 2003 ; Kearney et al.
2013 ; Huntington et al. 2010 ). MPAs strengthen ecological resilience to climate
variability, by offering habitat for range-shifting species, a key element for biotic
community responses to long-term climate change (Bates et al. 2013 ). However, to