A new report on the implementation of strict protection zones at sea details developments in the area.
In March 2022, Life Marha, a project funded by the EU's LIFE Programme to restore and maintain the conservation of natural marine habitats in France, organised the 2022 edition of the LIFE Platform Meeting, an annual conference that gathers European LIFE projects. The event brought together nearly 250 European and international managers, national agencies and government departments to share their experiences of deploying strict protection zones at sea.
The discussions focused on how to best develop strictly protected zones, aiming to achieve 10% of strictly and effectively protected marine areas in European seas by 2030. This goal aligns with the EU Biodiversity Strategy and supports the Mission "Restore our Ocean and Waters," which seeks to protect and restore marine ecosystems and biodiversity.
These exchanges provided an opportunity to recall the fundamental reasons for the commitment to strict protection, to agree on the associated semantics, and, above all, to identify the challenges, constraints, success factors and initial effects of these protection zones where they have been implemented.
Progress has been made since March 2022 and these technical, political and regulatory developments have been updated in the summary document published recently.
The aim of this work is to help deploy strict protection measures at sea, achieve international, EU and national objectives in this area, and, most importantly, contribute to preserving the heritage and ecosystem services provided by marine ecosystems to our coastal societies.
For further information, or to get in touch with the speakers, please send an email to life.marha@ofb.gouv.fr
Life Martha, funded under the EU LIFE Integrated Projects Programme, restores and maintains the conservation status of natural marine habitats by supporting actors involved in the management of 162 Natura 2000 sites in the Mediterranean Sea.
For more information on marine protection efforts to safeguard 30% of EU sea areas and strictly protect 10% by 2030, visit the news section of the EU Blue Parks Community.