MPA News
IUCN debuts Green List of Protected Areas, includes three MPAs
The IUCN Green List of Protected Areas, which recognizes protected areas that are successfully meeting their objectives, was officially launched at the World Parks Congress in Sydney. The Green List’s first group of approved sites includes three MPAs: Gorgona Island Marine Park (Colombia), Iroise National Park (France), and Cerberè-Banyuls Marine Natural Reserve (France). There are also 21 terrestrial sites on the list. The Green List is a voluntary standard. When protected areas and their agencies apply for Green List standing, they must demonstrate performance and outcomes against several criteria. These include design and delivery of real conservation programs for key…
World Heritage developments at WPC
UNESCO’s World Heritage Marine Programme was busy at the World Parks Congress: The Programme released a new four-minute film, narrated by supermodel and UN Goodwill Ambassador for the Environment Gisele Bündchen, profiling conservation achievements at three WH marine sites: Aldabra Atoll (Seychelles), iSimangaliso Wetland Park (South Africa), and Glacier Bay (US). http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/1189 The Programme publicized its new smartphone app to share data, reports, and decisions related to the conservation of WH marine sites. http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/1189 (scroll down page) IUCN launched its new World Heritage Outlook website (www.worldheritageoutlook.iucn.org), providing assessments of all 222 sites inscribed on the World Heritage List for their…
Notes & news: CCAMLR – High seas bottom fisheries – Optimal MPA enforcement – Cultural MPAs – Shipwreck MPA – Spillover study – Marine managed areas
Again, CCAMLR fails to find consensus on proposals for large MPAs in Antarctic At its annual meeting in October 2014, the Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) failed for the fourth meeting in a row to reach consensus on proposals to designate large new MPAs in Antarctic waters. The two proposals – one from New Zealand and the US to create a 1.34 million-km2 no-take MPA in the Ross Sea; the other from Australia, France, and the EU for a network of MPAs in East Antarctica – were blocked by Russia and China. The two MPA…
US designates 1.2-million-km2 MPA in which all commercial extraction is banned
With a stroke of his pen in September, US President Barack Obama expanded the size of the existing Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) to 1.269 million km2, creating the world’s largest MPA in which all commercial resource extraction is banned. Commercial fishing, petroleum exploration, and deep sea mining are off-limits in the expanded MPA. To put the MPA’s expanded size in perspective: it is more than five times as large as the United Kingdom. Before the expansion, the site had covered a total area of 225,000 km2 around multiple US-governed islands and atolls in the south-central Pacific. The…
Upheaval at Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority: Era of global leadership may be over
For nearly 30 years, dating back to its establishment under Australian law in 1975, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) has served as a leader for the global community of MPA planners and managers. With experience gained from managing one of the largest and oldest MPAs in the world, GBRMPA staff have advised multiple peer agencies worldwide and been a regular presence at international meetings. GBRMPA programs to link land and sea conservation, particularly on water quality, and to study climate change as a threat to MPAs were among the highest-profile programs of their kind. The rezoning of…
Building successful endowments to support MPAs: Malpelo and the Mesoamerican Reef (full article)
In the May-June 2014 issue of MPA News, we examined cases in which MPAs have worked to make their financing more sustainable (MPA News 15:5). The article focused in particular on the value of diversifying funding streams. By generating revenue from multiple sources rather than just one or two, MPAs can reduce the risk should one of the streams dry up, such as during periods of government budget cuts. Another way of making financing more sustainable is through endowments. The funds in an endowment are invested and the earnings on those invested funds can be spent on an MPA’s program…
Book review: Economic incentives for marine and coastal conservation
Book: Economic Incentives for Marine and Coastal Conservation: Prospects, Challenges, and Implications Edited by Essam Yassin Mohammed, 2014, Routledge, London. The book is available at amazon.com for US $37.57. Review by Tundi Agardy, MPA News contributing editor. tundiagardy@earthlink.net These chapters on economic incentives, compiled by Essam Mohammed of the International Institute for Environment and Development, are an important contribution to marine conservation. As we have seen time and again at international marine meetings, the most sought-after information for planners and managers is guidance on how to make effective management financially sustainable. This is key to the viability of MPAs. Readers…
Notes & news: Barbuda – Spain – Scotland – MPA planning – MPA film fest
Barbuda designates five MPAs as part of new ocean plan In August the Barbuda Council – which governs half of the twin-island Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda – instituted a sweeping set of regulations to transform its ocean management and conservation. The measures include a zoning plan for its coastal waters, a network of five new no-take MPAs covering 33% (139 km2) of inshore habitats, and island-wide bans on the catching of parrotfish and sea urchins. The latter organisms are herbivores necessary for controlling algal growth on coral reefs. The new regulations also feature a prohibition on the use…
Innovative ideas in enforcement: What the future of MPA surveillance could look (and even sound) like
In April 2014, the technology company Google hosted a unique meeting at its headquarters in California. Involving several dozen scientists, technology engineers, conservationists, and politicians, it was a two-day discussion on the future of ocean surveillance. Presentations covered such technologies as drones and satellite-tracking systems for vessels, and included occasional nods to Google’s own enterprises. The latter included futuristic concepts like Project Loon, Google’s proposed global network of high-altitude balloons for collecting and relaying data. (The website for the meeting is www.oceanagenda.org/home. A blog post by an attendee, Mimi D’Iorio of the US National MPA Center, is at https://www.openchannels.org/node/6571.) MPA…
World Heritage Committee delays decision on Great Barrier Reef “danger list” status to 2015
At its annual meeting in June 2014, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee decided to delay a decision on whether to add the Great Barrier Reef to its list of World Heritage in Danger, opting instead to have Australia submit an updated report on the state of the site’s conservation by February 2015. A year ago, the committee expressed continued concern to the Australian and Queensland governments over the level of coastal development adjacent to the reef (MPA News 15:1). Amid this development is a government plan – approved by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority but questioned by the…