Major international conferences like the World Conservation Congress in Hawai’i provide a high-profile opportunity to launch new publications. Several that debuted at the WCC are listed below:
- Protected Planet 2016: UNEP and IUCN’s latest global accounting of the progress of protected area designation finds that 4.1% of the global ocean is now in MPAs. That figure rises to 10.2% when considering just marine areas within national jurisdiction, without the high seas. Representativeness remains a challenge: only one-third of the world’s 232 marine ecoregions have at least 10% of their area protected. The report also illustrates how protected areas contribute to 15 of the 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity, as well as to targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The report is free.
- Big, Bold and Blue: Lessons from Australia’s Marine Protected Areas: This 433-page book documents Australia’s wealth of experience in designating and managing MPAs — from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park to the Commonwealth Marine Reserve System, state-level MPA systems, and more. With chapters authored by multiple noteworthy Australian and international practitioners, academics, and stakeholders, the book provides an array of case studies, as well as lessons on successes and failures of various approaches to management and governance. It is aimed at an international audience. “There have been no published volumes bringing together the history, current status, and future directions of each of the Australian MPA networks nor perspectives from different sectors on these MPA networks more broadly,” write the co-editors James Fitzsimons and Geoff Wescott. “This book aims to fill this void.” The book is available for AU $89.95 (US $69) at the link above.
- Special issue of Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems on MPAs: This free issue of Aquatic Conservation has 18 articles with information, perspectives, and conclusions gathered from the 6th IUCN World Parks Congress in 2014 in Sydney. It explores MPAs from a variety of perspectives — from global targets to local action — and touches on topics as diverse as high seas MPAs, sustaining fishing livelihoods, marine education, the use of drones, and empowering emerging leaders in the MPA community.
- Stories of Influence: This free report from IUCN, WWF, and IFAW may be useful to MPA managers encountering the threat of noise pollution from oil/gas exploration and development near their sites. The publication outlines how an international panel of scientists and conservationists has worked with Russian firm Sakhalin Energy to reduce the company’s impacts on critically endangered gray whales in far eastern Russia. The partnership, although not without its challenges, is now credited with helping the population of whales recover from 115 individuals in 2004 to 174 in 2015.
- Managing MIDAs – Harmonising the Management of Multi-Internationally Designated Areas: Ramsar Sites, World Heritage Sites, Biosphere Reserves and UNESCO Global Geoparks: An Internationally Designated Area (IDA) is a natural area recognized by a global or regional designation mechanism. There are 263 cases worldwide in which different IDAs overlap with one another, thus carrying two, three, or even four international designations. This free report from IUCN calls these areas Multi-Internationally Designated Areas (MIDAs), and recommends practices for harmonizing their management, conservation, and sustainable use.