UNEP/MAP-SPA/RAC is participating in the fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress which will seek to develop a collaborative approach to help ensure effective conservation and management of 30% of the ocean by 2030.

The following are the main events that SPARAC will be hosting or contributing to during IMPAC 5.

Advances in Identifying and Recognizing Marine OECMs - Initial Lessons Learned on their Contribution to the Global Area-Based Conservation Target
Saturday, February 4, 2023 ⏐ Time: 14:00 – 15:30 (GMT-8) ⏐ Location: Ballroom B-D

“Other effective area-based conservation measures“(OECMs) were first used in 2010, when Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the Aichi Target 11. OECMs allow for the inclusion of other spatial management intervention that may not meet the definition of a protected area, mostly because their primary objective is not the conservation of biodiversity, but that can achieve important conservation gains.
This session will outline a few experiences from around the globe for identifying and reporting OECMs in the marine environment. The examples to be presented, from the Mediterranean and the Baltic seas, Canada, and Mexico, offer a diversity of approaches and perspectives on how OECMs have been considered in the marine environment. Speakers will particularly highlight the process that were followed in their regions or countries to both identify and report OECMs, and the challenges encountered in interpreting the CBD definition and criteria when applied to a variety of marine OECMs in various sectors (fisheries, cultural, military, oil and gas, etc.).

Organized by WCPA, with participation of UNEP/MAP-SPA/RAC

Build Back a Blue and Stronger Mediterranean: Unique and Replicable Alliance Between Conservation Trust Fund and Network of MPA Managers
Saturday, February 4, 2023 ⏐ Time: 17:30 – 18:30 (GMT-8) ⏐ Location: Booth n°412

MPAs, when they are effectively managed, financed and enforced, are recognized as effective tools for protecting marine and coastal ecosystems and conserving their biodiversity while simultaneously contributing to the sustainable economic development of local communities.
However, most of the Mediterranean MPAs are affected by the “paper park” syndrome where protected areas have inadequate resources to ensure management effectiveness. Many MPAs fail to meet thresholds for effective and equitable management processes, with widespread shortfalls in staff and financial resources.
To achieve post 2020 MPA targets, beyond the creation of new MPAs, it will be also crucial to ensure effective management of MPAs (meaning adequate human and material capacity as well as skills) and to ensure adequate and sustainable financing of MPAs.
To do so, effective operational tools are needed such as networks of MPA managers (such as MedPAN in the Mediterranean); and trust funds/environmental funds for MPAs (such as The MedFund in the Mediterranean) working together with other MPA actors.

Organized by The MedFund and MedPAN, with participation of UNEP/MAP-SPA/RAC

The Road to 2030: The Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas Forum and Roadmap, A Unique and Key Process for Reaching MPA Targets
Sunday, February 5, 2023 ⏐ Time: 14:00 – 15:30 (GMT-8) ⏐ Location: Room 202

SPA/RAC, MedPAN, WWF, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and their partners have organized from 28 November to 1 December 2021, in Monaco and online, the third edition of the Forum of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Mediterranean, in the continuity of the first and second editions of Antalya 2012 and Tangier 2016.
These previous editions were the culmination of a process aiming at developing, evaluating, and updating a Roadmap for Mediterranean MPAs to boost the implementation by 2020 of the CBD’s Aichi Target 11 / Strategic Action Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.
A new Mediterranean roadmap was developed in 2020-2021 through a wide consultation process for the different MPA stakeholders to bring their voices also to respond to the 2030 MPA global and regional targets.
The event will present this unique and collective key Mediterranean process related to MPAs and addresses the MPA challenges and solutions in the framework of the 2020 Mediterranean MPA Forum and the Post-2020 Roadmap process.

Organized by UNEP/MAP-SPA/RAC, MedPAN, WWF, FPA2

Conserving the Mediterranean Sea through Sound Systems of MPAs and OECMs: Advances, Challenges and Prospects
Tuesday, February 7, 2023 ⏐ Time: 14:00 – 15:30 (GMT-8) ⏐ Location: Room 206

This session will provide an insight on the Mediterranean region’s strategy and contribution to build up the global area-based conservation network. It will shed light on achievements and advances, as well as on gaps and challenges to reach the 30 by 30 targets. It will also bring the voice of various stakeholders from the region, including intergovernmental and international organizations, governments, the civil society, scientists, the private sectors and donors.
Based on the comprehensiveness of the ‘Post-2020 Regional Strategy for Marine and Coastal Protected Areas (MCPAs) and Other Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) in the Mediterranean’, the session will embrace all five IMPAC5 Themes, and mainly ‘Building a Global Marine Protected Area Network’, ‘Managing Marine Protected Areas and Human Activity’ and ‘Advancing Conservation in the Blue Economy’.

Organized by UNEP/MAP-SPA/RAC

The full programme of the Congress is available at www.impac5.ca