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ABSTRACT1. With the drive for greater numbers and areas of MPAs to be put in place to meet national and international targets, challenges have emerged in both the establishment and development of sustainable governance of the networks of sites that are emerging.2. Using 12 presentations given in a workshop on 'Improving participation for better governance of MPAs' at the 3 rd International Marine Protected Areas Congress in October 2013, this paper reviews a range of top-down, bottom-up and collaborative approaches to governance, looking at all phases in the process from design of an MPA network to its implementation, as well as considering individual MPAs.3. Designation of MPA networks requires significant investment of resources to engage local stakeholders in discussions over potential site location and management measures.4. Scaling-up from individual MPAs to networks of MPAs will often also require a scaling-up of governance approaches, including top-down approaches.5. Balancing the need to provide for the participation of local users in each constituent MPA with the need to address a variety of challenges, whilst achieving wider-scale objectives through the inclusion of top-down governance approaches is an important but neglected challenge in discussions concerning MPA networks.6. These case studies indicate that there are various ways in which this challenge can be addressed in different contexts and point to potential 'good practice' for other MPAs in similar scenarios.

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ABSTRACT1. Regional approaches to protecting the marine environment have gathered momentum over the past 40 years. Pioneered by UNEP's Regional Seas Programme, such approaches have broadened their remit from pollution prevention to the conservation of biodiversity, promoting management tools such as networks of marine protected areas (MPAs).2. Formal intergovernmental approaches are increasingly complemented by a range of regional projects committed to ambitious targets to establish MPAs and Local Marine Managed Areas (LMMAs). These regional efforts have been inspired by political leaders, non-governmental organizations, coastal communities and committed individuals.3. Regional networks of MPA managers have drawn together professionals to share good practice and further develop management tools. They focus on partnerships and capacity building opportunities with support from international donors and implementing agencies.4. Collective ecosystem-based management delivered using a regional approach is identified as a preferred solution to environmental challenges in polar regions. Crossing boundaries and fostering regional synergies can help ensure ecologically coherent regional networks and support resilience. There is also the potential to reap tangible rewards from applying such a regional approach in many other areas.5. Regional coherence of MPA network design, compliance and enforcement policies, and information sharing is an optimal way to understand and counter commercial and industrial resource extraction forces actively working against sustainable development.

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