Interactions among scientists, managers and the public in defining research priorities and management strategies for marine and coastal resources: Is the Red Sea Marine Peace Park a new paradigm?

It has been assumed that marine habitats and resources, especially, are almost unlimited, and that if one habitat became degraded or a particular fisheries resource depleted, there always would be another to replace it. Therefore, natural resource management principals are beginning to include human motivation and responses as part of the marine and coastal systems that are being studied and managed. Managers of marine resources face the challenge of balancing conservation and development objectives in the context of the inherent uncertainty of natural systems and the political and social pressures of human systems. Natural resource managers, scientists and the general public seem to share a vision for the future as a world in which societal and economic decisions will be strongly coupled with an increasingly comprehensive understanding of the environment. This in turn will lead to both socio-economic health and ecosystem health. A paradigm shift is being seen in the evolution of the role of scientists in society from simply observers of the natural world with tenuous linkages to resource managers and the public, to partners in modern society's quest for answers to pressing questions related to sustainable use and conservation of natural resources. A US Agency for International Development supported, joint effort between the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Government of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to conduct a comprehensive research and monitoring program directed at the new Binational Red Sea Marine Peace Park will be a pioneering effort to employ and test this new paradigm.