MPA News

The global MPA field has been given more time to reach the target of protecting 10% of all marine and coastal ecoregions in protected areas. The target, set in 2005 by a subsidiary body of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), was supposed to be met by 2012. But the latest calculations of global MPA coverage show the world falling far short of the goal with just 1% of marine waters currently in MPAs. Although some coastal countries have surpassed the goal in their own waters, the great majority of nations has not. In October at the 10th Conference…

Mark Spalding and Kristina Gjerde were principal contributors to the report Global Ocean Protection: Current Trends and Future Opportunities, which analyzed global MPA trends in preparation for the October biodiversity meeting in Nagoya. Spalding, a senior marine scientist with The Nature Conservancy, was one of the report’s editors. Gjerde, high seas policy advisor to IUCN, co-authored two chapters of the report. Here, they discuss with MPA News the implications of the new Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) agreement to extend the 10% target deadline from 2012 to 2020, and other outcomes from Nagoya: MPA News: The CBD meeting gave the…

As is typically the case with major international conservation meetings, each day of the CBD Conference in Nagoya, Japan, featured a whirlwind of announcements on new policies, publications, and other initiatives. Here are some announcements of interest to the MPA community: Nagoya Oceans Statement “Oceans Day” at the Nagoya meeting brought together 150 participants from 35 countries for a series of marine-themed presentations and events. Organizers of the day’s activities drafted the “Nagoya Oceans Statement”, which called on governments participating in the CBD meeting to consider multiple actions to protect ocean biodiversity. Among these was a call for a new…

The past two months have seen significant changes in global MPA maps. In addition to the 544,000-km2 Chagos Marine Protected Area taking effect on 1 November, substantial new MPAs have been designated in the North Atlantic, South America, and Western Australia that redraw marine protection in these areas. North Atlantic: First network of high seas MPAs In September the intergovernmental OSPAR Commission designated a network of six MPAs to protect unique and ecologically sensitive areas in the North-East Atlantic, beyond the jurisdiction of coastal states. Totaling 285,000 km2, the new MPAs comprise waters around seamounts and sections of the Mid-Atlantic…

A five-year study on the ecological, social, and economic dimensions of MPAs worldwide has released a series of three booklets on its findings. Aimed primarily at policy-makers, the concise reports present lessons gathered from more than 70 sites in 23 tropical countries. The publications recommend how to implement MPAs to maximize benefits for people and nature. The study involved more than 400 scientists and 75 partner institutions, and was led by Conservation International’s Marine Management Area Science Program. “Marine managed areas (MMAs)* benefit not only biodiversity, but people,” says Leah Bunce Karrer, the study’s project director. “For example, based on…

When the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park was rezoned in 2004, boosting its no-take percentage from 4.7% to over 33%, policymakers anticipated that some adverse impacts would be felt by commercial fishermen. The new closures would displace fishermen from some of their accustomed fishing grounds, and the displacement could lead to lower catches and/or higher costs from their having to fish elsewhere. In turn, these impacts could have financial ripple effects on fishing-related businesses (wholesalers, processors) and communities on shore. To account for this, the Australian Government launched an aid initiative in 2004 to help the impacted fishermen and businesses….

Letter: Many Chagossian refugees support the new MPA Dear MPA News: The September-October 2010 issue of MPA News was brought to my attention due to the article on MPAs and indigenous people, including its mention of the new Chagos Islands Marine Protected Area. I was born on the island of Diego Garcia in Chagos in 1970. When I was one year old, my family and all other remaining Chagossians were evicted from the islands to make way for a US/UK joint military base on Diego Garcia. We moved to Mauritius, and I now live in the UK. While it is…

Seychelles announces “world’s first carbon-neutral nature reserve” The government of Seychelles in the Indian Ocean has named Cousin Island Special Reserve the “world’s first carbon-neutral nature reserve”. The carbon-neutral status reflects a desire by the protected area’s management (Nature Seychelles, an NGO) to offset the greenhouse gases produced by tourists to Cousin Island each year. This includes thousands who fly to Seychelles from Europe. To achieve carbon neutrality, Nature Seychelles purchased carbon credits from a project in Sudan that is actively reducing greenhouse gas emissions by distributing efficient cook stoves. The total cost of the purchased credits was £8169 (US…

This “Building Resilience” feature is contributed by the Reef Resilience program of The Nature Conservancy (www.reefresilience.org). The program provides reef managers with tools to build resilience into management activities. By Rebecca Cerroni and Stephanie Wear, The Nature Conservancy The chemistry of the ocean is dependent on the chemistry of the atmosphere. As the amount of atmospheric CO2 increases due to the burning of fossil fuels, the amount of CO2 that dissolves in the ocean also increases. Since CO2 and water combine to form carbonic acid, “ocean acidification” (meaning a lower pH level for the sea) occurs when more than the…