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Most of the marine protected areas (MPAs) around the world, estimated to number about 5000, have been established both on an ad hoc basis and through systematic planning processes. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) requires that Party states establish, by 2012, comprehensive, effectively managed, and ecologically representative national and regional systems of protected areas, and that there should be effective conservation of at least 10% of each of the world's ecological regions by 2010. Many countries have established their own national targets which provide an incentive for the introduction of a systematic conservation planning approach to the establishment of MPAs, and there are now many initiatives to develop ecologically representative MPA networks. This report reviews the progress being made, using information from the literature, MPA practitioners and planners, and conservation experts.

The Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004 and its tragic and devastating consequences were a wake-up call for the global community, dramatically drawing attention to the vulnerability of tropical coastal ecosystems and the dangers of undermining the services they provide to humankind. This was further emphasized by the catastrophic hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico in 2005 when Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma caused much publicized and extensive damage to coastal areas. The numerous other tropical storms that affected coastal communities and ecosystems in other parts of the world in the same year received much less attention, but were also notable.