Ecologically or biologically significant marine areas workshop

30 September 2019

The workshop to facilitate description of ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs) in the North-East Atlantic was a technical level 5-day workshop, preceded by a training day on the preceding Sunday and a preparatory meeting between Secretariats on the Saturday. The workshop completed templates for the description of areas meeting the EBSA criteria.

The workshop was attended by experts nominated by Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) contact points, including CBD Observers. OSPAR and NEAFC Secretariats were represented.

OSPAR deputy secretary, Lena Avellan, provided input to the workshop on the regional context, including preceding policy-discussions and technical discussions. We also contributed all relevant data hosted in our data portal, ODIMS, which could be of relevance to the workshop.

The CBD workshop on identifying EBSAs was successful in identifying 17 proposed candidate areas. The arrangement of the workshop as a CBD process where OSPAR and NEAFC collaborated worked successfully.

More information on the meeting can be found here https://www.cbd.int/meetings/EBSA-WS-2019-01