Nominees requested for Kenton Miller Award, recognizing innovation in MPA practice
The IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) is requesting nominations for this year’s Kenton Miller Award, which recognizes individuals who have demonstrated innovative approaches for effective protected areas. For this year’s award, WCPA is limiting nominees to those working in the MPA field specifically. It is the first time WCPA has focused the award on marine innovation.
The winner will receive US$5000 and will be announced at IMPAC4 this September in Chile. The deadline for nominations is 26 May. Instructions and details are available here.
Normally the Kenton Miller Award solicits nominees from both terrestrial and marine protected areas. But it has gone to an MPA practitioner only once: in 2007 Heliodoro Sanchez of Mexico won it for his work on mangrove protected areas.
Second edition of Blue Solutions Caribbean report offers 50 case studies
The new second edition of the Blue Solutions from Latin America and the Wider Caribbean report provides an updated collection of successful case studies from that region, including several that involve MPAs. The 63-page report contains 50 brief case studies and is available for free here. The Blue Solutions initiative supports the exchange of successful approaches to marine and coastal conservation and development — sharing what worked where and why.
New report on how aquaculture and MPAs can be compatible
A new report from IUCN outlines opportunities for aquaculture to be integrated in MPAs in a sustainable way. It describes various types of aquaculture and their compatibility with different categories of MPA. It also offers several case studies. “There is no simple answer to the issue of how to deliver enhanced synergies between MPAs and aquaculture,” states the report. “It is not a case of banning aquaculture in multiple-use MPAs (except badly practiced aquaculture). But which projects do go forward should be compatible with environmental conditions and local settings.” The 16-page publication Aquaculture and Marine Protected Areas: Potential Opportunities and Synergies is available for free here.
Study finds the closer to an MPA a child lives, the more likely the child is to be healthy
It is not often that marine protected areas appear in a medical journal. But the April 2017 issue of The Lancet features a study that finds that effectively managed MPAs could help improve the health of marginalized coastal peoples worldwide, particularly children.
The study examined 47,000 children living less than 25 km from a marine coast in 25 developing countries. While controlling for an array of socioeconomic variables, the study found that the further from an MPA a child lived, the greater the likelihood that the child would be severely stunted (i.e., have inadequate height for age). The authors say further research is needed to uncover why MPA proximity would have this effect on child health. A summary of the article “Effect of coastal marine protection on childhood health: an exploratory study” is available here.
From the MPA News vault
Features and news items from yesteryear
Five years ago: May-June 2012
- Paying for MPAs: Examples of Large-Scale Fundraising for Planning and Management
- Marine Protected Areas in Fisheries Management: A West African Perspective
Ten years ago: May 2007
- Do We Really Need 50 Ways to Say “Marine Protected Area”?: Views on MPA Terminology, and Efforts to Categorize MPAs
- Agreement Places Strict Limits on Bottom Trawling in South Pacific
Fifteen years ago: May 2002
- Recruiting Research That Is Useful to Your MPA: Advice from Experts
- What Scientists Want in an MPA Study Site: Interview with Callum Roberts
For these and all other issues of MPA News, go to https://mpanews.openchannels.org/mpanews/archives
Upcoming webinars
Using US Whistleblower Laws to Fight Illegal Fishing and Marine Pollution and Fund MPAs
Tuesday, 6 June 2017 at 1pm US EDT / 10am US PDT / 5pm UTC
A Coastal Conservation Leadership Program in Washington State
Thursday, 8 June 2017 at 1pm US EDT / 10am US PDT / 5pm UTC
Green Fins: A Tool for Reducing the Direct Impacts of Diving and Tourism Industries
Thursday, 13 July 2017 at 1pm US EDT / 10am US PDT / 5pm UTC
Bringing Finance and Conservation Together: The Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation
Tuesday, 25 July 2017 at 1pm US EDT / 10am US PDT / 5pm UTC