The fourth EU Blue Parks Community workshop ‘Strict protection in European seas: how it helps people and nature’ will be held on 6 March 2025 in Brussels during the European Ocean Days.
The EU Blue Parks Community under the EU Mission "Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030" brings together EU Member States national and regional authorities, European marine networks, stakeholders, and research and innovation projects to collaborate on marine protection and restoration in EU sea-basins. The Community aims to help identify and address challenges, share tools, solutions and good practices for marine protected areas (MPAs), contributing to the protection of 30% and strict protection of 10% of EU sea areas by 2030.
This in-person event is the 4th workshop in the series of EU Blue Parks Community workshops. More than 90 organisations active on marine protection are already members in this growing Community. The workshop will focus on strict protection in Marine Protected Areas with the aim to share tools, strategies, and governance models to implement strict protection. The workshop will also explore how strict protection in Marine Protected Areas can strengthen conservation while supporting sustainable livelihoods.
You can find the agenda HERE.
Session 1 – Strict protection state-of-play and case-studies Moderators: Roberta Zobbi (DG MARE) and Eduardo Carqueijeiro (DG RTD)
- State of play with EU Biodiversity strategy target for strict protection in marine areas Vedran Nikolic, DG-ENV D.3
- Establishing Europe’s largest MPA network Rui Martins, Blue Azores, Azores Regional Government (PT)
- Expanding and strengthening marine protection in Ireland Richard Cronin, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (IE)
- Ensuring sufficient protection and restoration in the Baltic Sea's marine environment Jannica Haldin, EU project PROTECT BALTIC, HELCOM & Estefania Cortez, Coalition Clean Baltic
- Highlighting international best practices for strict protection Emilie Riclet, SML, EU LIFE project Marha (FR)
- Ecological benefits, resilience to climatic nexus Emma V. Sheehan, Lyme Bay MPA (UK)
- Boosting local economies through strict protection Mark John Costello, Nord University (NO), EU project MPA-Europe
- Identification of conservation areas and conflicts through participatory mapping Vera Helene Hausner, UiT Arctic University of Norway, EU project BioProtect
- Engaging stakeholders for successful implementation Margarita Stancheva, Center for Coastal and Marine Studies (CCMS), EU project Blue Connect
- 6 March 2025
- Brussels