Marine ecosystems

This document summarizes discussions that were held during a workshop in December 2011 and which focused on making progress on the identification of Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas for seamounts in the high seas.

For the Aichi Biodiversity Targets to be met in full, and for the other relevant processes to be successful, examples and guidelines for the identification of important pelagic areas must be made available to policy makers involved in the process of identifying ecologically or biologically significant areas (EBSAs).

The workbook is designed to allow for a dynamic process of marine protected area (MPA) management based on the lessons learnt through piloting the first draft of the workbook in eight MPAs in Kenya, Tanzania and the Seychelles. It takes into account the management issues faced in the WIO, is cost effective and encourages self-assessment by the managers. The Workbook has a complementary website (www.wiomsa.org\mpaworkbook.htm) and CD ROM.

Of the current 750 marine and coastal protected areas that have been created in the Mediterranean, two thirds of these are along the northern coast of the sea. Therefore important habitats along the eastern and southern coast are under-represented. The Mediterranean Representative Areas and Species (MedRAS) project aims at identifying priority habitats and species in these under-represented areas to be managed and protected. The focus of the present report is on Libya.

This workbook was produced in order to test and adapt the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) methodologies for use at marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Western Indian Ocean. The workbook is designed to allow for a dynamic process of MPA management based on the lessons learnt from pilot assessments in Kenya, Tanzania and the Seychelles.

This report provides results of testing the Workbook for Assessing Management Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas in the Western Indian Ocean at eight pilot sites in three countries. The assessment looks at not only the impacts but also the effectiveness of the management process. It does not require the collection of new data, unless that can be done quickly but provides a "snap-shot" of management effectiveness at a particular point in time, with recommendations for improvement.

This summary is based on Crooks, S., Herr, D., Laffoley, D., Tamelander, J. and Vandever, J. 2010. “New Opportunities to Regulate Climate Change through Restoration and Management of Coastal Wetlands and Marine Ecosystems.” World Bank, IUCN, ESA PWA (renamed "Mitigating climate change through restoration and management of coastal wetlands and near-shore marine ecosystems: challenges and opportunities" upon publication in 2011).

This report builds on these and other efforts to bring to light the important carbon sequestration potential of coastal wetlands, and the significant and largely unaccounted for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from the disturbance, drainage, and conversion of these natural coastal carbon sinks for agriculture, tourism and other coastal development.

Although Bonaire’s coral reefs remain among the healthiest and most resilient in the Caribbean, this IUCN report based on the IUCN Resilience Assessment of Coral Reefs highlights some of the threats that exist to Bonaire’s coral reefs, and which could have serious implications for resilience to future climate change and other threats. The report identified recommendations for addressing the current threats, as well as high and low resilience sites.