Six marine protected areas showed how it’s done
Barely a week goes by without another new marine protected area being announced; last week it was Sao Tome and Principe, the week before it was French Polynesia. It’s good news, but drawing lines on a map is one thing, implementing effective conservation is another.
Enter the Blue Park Awards. Recognising marine protected areas (MPAs) that set a benchmark for ocean conservation, the prize revealed its latest winners this week. They were: Banc-des-Américains, Canada; KAWAWANA Indigenous community heritage area, Senegal; Nosy Hara national park, Madagascar; Nosy Tanihely national park, Madagascar; Sahamalaza-îles Radama national park, Madagascar; and Rapa Nui marine protected area, Chile.
Selected by conservation experts convened by the US-based Marine Conservation Institute, the winners were benchmarked against “a rigorous, science-driven framework” to evaluate their effectiveness.
Together, the six parks encompass approximately 455,000 sq miles of ocean, bringing the total Blue Park network to more than 2.6m sq miles of effectively protected ocean across 30 countries and Indigenous territories.
“These six MPAs show that effective marine protection is achievable across cultures, geographies, and political systems,” said Dr Lance Morgan, president of Marine Conservation Institute. “We hope they inspire ocean champions everywhere to raise their ambitions for what protection can and should look like.”
Image: mirecca