Protect Planet Ocean
is about
Marine Conservation

 

There is a huge amount of progress yet to be made in marine protection if the targets adopted in the past few years are to be met on time. As such, and in its role as the world's premier network of expertise on marine protected areas, IUCN WCPA-Marine has a pivotal role to play in facilitating this progress.

 

Our role is to inspire, inform and enable people to protect Planet Ocean by promoting the establishment of a global, representative system of effectively managed and lasting networks of MPAs.

 

Our goals are to:

 

- Accelerate progress in achieving the global MPA agenda through tracking progress, quality assuring information, celebrating achievements, identifying priorities and spurring action

- Encourage, develop and share solutions on MPAs through setting of data and information standards, criteria, tools, best practice guidelines, and management effectiveness

- Increase visibility, understanding and awareness of MPAs through the application of innovative ideas, partnerships, approaches and the application of new technologies

 

We achieve this by:

 

- Convening, coordinating and networking, in order to help governments, agencies, organisations and individuals to plan, develop and implement MPAs, MPA networks, and the global system, and integrate them with all other sea and coastal uses and maritime sectors;

- Ensuring better application of the best science, technical and policy advice on MPAs, MPA networks, and the global system;

- Generating, synthesising and disseminating knowledge on MPAs, often in the form of best practice advice, to a diverse range of players;

- Developing enhanced capacity at different levels to address the variety of challenges that funding and implementing effectively managed MPAs can present; and

- Fostering innovation to come up with exciting new solutions and ideas to tackle current and futures challenges.

 

These goals and initiatives have been brought together in our Plan of Action, which sets out the added value that WCPA – Marine brings to the global community working on MPAs. We identify the renewed need for urgent action to protect our oceans and seas, the main themes we work under and the global priorities that we believe are needed to achieve this. This is to help bridge the gap between existing work on MPAs, and what is needed in order to put in place effective and lasting networks of MPAs throughout the world. Alongside this Plan of Action is a Business Plan that sets out more about the approach and management structures we will use to take our work forward. The Plan of Action is intended to span the period between now and the current MPA target deadlines (i.e. 2008-2012), and also set the context for future work beyond that time. It will be periodically updated to contain the latest developments and decisions.

 

As part of the World Commission on Protected Areas we work in partnership with IUCN’s Global Programme on Protected Areas and IUCN’s Global Marine programme, and have members in many of the countries of the world that border an ocean or sea. 

 

Download our Plan of Action here