By Peter JS Jones and Rick Stafford - Marine protected areas, or MPAs as they’re more commonly called, are very simple. Areas of the sea are set aside where certain activities – usually fishing – are banned or restricted.
During remarks at the close of the recent G7 summit in Biarritz, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the Aichi targets—goals set nearly a decade ago as part of the United Nations’ Strategic Plan for Biodiversity—must be “replaced with new, more ambitious targets to help us get back the biodiversity that this planet is losing, and has lost.”
By Matthew Offord MP for Hendon - UK leadership on ocean conservation has won international acclaim. The landmark Blue Belt policy to work with the UK Overseas Territories to “create the largest marine sanctuaries anywhere in the world” has only furthered this standing, with commitments to create large protected areas around Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha in 2019 and 2020 respectively already widely welcomed.
The United Kingdom is showcasing its expertise in marine conservation and protection at the 4th International Congress of Marine Protected Areas in La Serena, Coquimbo, Chile, which extends until next 8 September.
Three decades ago, on 29 October 1986 a Proclamation declaring the Interim Falklands Conservation and Management Zone was signed by then Governor Jewkes, which helped to transform the Islands economy. The anniversary has been marked by several events, and this week was the turn for a scientific approach on how and why the waters around the Falklands are so rich in marine life.
Ahead of the May 7 British general election, a coalition of conservationists and high-profile supporters has called upon the UK government to create three marine reserves that together would more than double the world’s protected waters, reports Inhabitat.
The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) joined member states of the Antarctic Treaty, along with observer and expert organizations, in Brasilia this week to discuss measures for the protection of the Antarctic environment.
The world's biggest marine reserve in Antarctica may have to be given an expiry date to get countries with interests in the prized waters to agree to it. Delegations from 25 nations are resuming in Tasmania a New Zealand-US proposal for a marine protected area (MPA) in the fish-rich Ross Sea, 3500km south of New Zealand.
An extraordinary meeting of the Commission of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to establish Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the Ross Sea region and in East Antarctica wrapped up on Tuesday without an agreement after Russia with support from Ukraine blocked the initiative.
The United Kingdom Minister for the Overseas Territories Mark Simmonds welcomed the announcement of a set of additional measures to safeguard the sustainable-use Marine Protected Area (MPA) around the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands.