Report | May 6, 2020
Unprotected Marine Treasures: An Oceana proposal to protect 15 marine biodiversity hotspots in Europe
Marine biodiversity hotspots in danger
2020 is a critical year for nature and the protection of our ocean, in terms of important conservation targets converging, both at European Union (EU) and international levels: –
reaching at least 10% protection of coastal and marine areas (Aichi Target 11),
– achieving the Good Environmental Status of EU waters under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD),
– halting biodiversity loss (EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy) and
– ending overfishing (EU Common Fisheries Policy).
Despite several examples of threatened species recovery, such as harbour seals in Kattegat and bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean1, the overall situation in most EU countries is indisputable: marine targets have been missed and the overall health of our ocean is not improving. It is absolutely clear that governments must increase their ambition concerning ocean protection, which will in turn bring significant benefits not only for marine biodiversity, but also for local communities, and for climate adaptation
Oceana strongly supports a global target to protect 30% of the world’s ocean as marine protected areas (MPAs), 2 under high or full protection, to safeguard the global ocean on which we all depend. Several European countries have already endorsed this target, and Oceana’s proposals can help to achieve it. The climate emergency also forces us to prioritise the conservation of so-called ‘blue carbon’ habitats (e.g., kelp forests and seagrass beds) that play a critical role in sequestering carbon and fighting climate change.
This document provides an overview of key sites of ecological importance which Oceana has proposed for protection based on its expedition data, but which remain unprotected. Oceana has developed MPA proposals for each of these biodiversity hotspots that range from the Baltic to the Mediterranean Sea, as follows:
A high resolution version of this report can be downloaded here.
