Marine Protected Areas
Within OSPAR, MPAs are understood as areas for which protective, conservation, restorative or precautionary measures have been instituted for the purpose of protecting and conserving species, habitats, ecosystems or ecological processes of the marine environment.
Besides OSPAR MPAs, Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) may also contribute to the protection of marine biodiversity. In 2020, OSPAR agreed on the OECM definition as adopted by the UN Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, COP 14) in November 2018 which specifies an OECM as:
‘a geographically defined area other than a Protected Area, which is governed and managed in ways that achieve positive and sustained long-term outcomes for the in situ conservation of biodiversity, with associated ecosystem functions and services and where applicable, cultural, spiritual, socio–economic, and other locally relevant value’.
At the Ministerial Meeting in Sintra in 1998, OSPAR Ministers agreed to promote the establishment of a network of marine protected areas and, following a period of preparatory work, the 2003 OSPAR Ministerial Meeting in Bremen adopted Recommendation 2003/3 on a network of marine protected areas with the purpose of establishing an ecologically coherent network of MPAs in the North-East Atlantic that is well managed by 2016.The OSPAR network of MPAs aims:
- to protect, conserve and restore species, habitats and ecological processes which have been adversely affected by human activities;
- to prevent degradation of, and damage to, species, habitats and ecological processes, following the precautionary principle;
- to protect and conserve areas that best represent the range of species, habitats and ecological processes in the maritime area.
The progress made by Contracting Parties in identifying, selecting and establishing MPAs as components of the OSPAR network is summarised in the latest status assessment report.
Details of the MPAs that Contracting Parties have nominated to the OSPAR network or have been collectively designated are held in the OSPAR MPCA database.
