Marine Planning

Don't be intimidated by the phrase, Marine Spatial Planning (MSP)!

Marine Spatial Planning Initiative

Whole of Island Approach: Integrated Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment

The Conservation Planning Group

Ecosystem Based Adaptation (EbA) Project:  Choiseul, Solomon Islands

By subscribing to the services below you will be sent the latest news and publications on marine protected areas, oceans, planning, policy, science and so forth.

Each month this year, 2016, Green Fire is releasing one short video clip on marine planning from the Great Bear Seas film and other new material.

Scientific research is something all of us were exposed to in school and something we hear routinely in the news.  In principle, science is supposed to interact with agencies and organizations entrusted with managing protected areas and other managed areas.  Science u

Underwater Mapping of Critical Areas Related to Biodiversity Conservation

The EBSAs are special areas in the ocean that serve important purposes, in one way or another, to support the healthy functioning of oceans and the many services that it provides. 

Under the U.S.

Marine Species Action Plans

For over 40 years, hydrothermal vents and the communities that thrive on them have been a source of profound discovery for deep-sea ecologists. These ecosystems are found throughout the world on active plate margins as well as other geologically active features.

Well-managed and enforced no-take marine reserves generate important larval subsidies to neighboring habitats and thereby contribute to the long-term sustainability of fisheries.

Corals and coral-associated species are highly vulnerable to the emerging effects of global climate change. The widespread degradation of coral reefs, which will be accelerated by climate change, jeopardizes the goods and services that tropical nations derive from reef ecosystems.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are conservation tools that are increasingly implemented, with growing national commitments for MPA expansion. Perhaps the greatest challenge to expanded use of MPAs is the perceived trade-off between protection and food production.

While coral reefs become increasingly degraded, new techniques are increasingly needed to assist reefs in recovering and adapting to changing environmental conditions.

This Guide has been produced to provide practical, science-based advice on how to maximize the effectiveness of both new and existing shark and ray MPAs, to ensure these animals are protected now and far into the future.

A Primer on Marine Protected Areas

A regulation-based classification system for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

A regulation-based classification system for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

In this report the World Ocean Initiative assesses the challenges facing key sectors in the ocean economy, including seafood, shipping, tourism and renewable energy.

Coral reefs host exceptionally diverse and abundant marine life. Connecting coasts and sheltered lagoons to the open ocean, reef passages are important yet poorly studied components of these ecosystems.

Rapid anthropogenic climate change is a major threat to ocean biodiversity, increasing the challenge for marine conservation.

Substantial efforts and investments are being made to increase the scale and improve the effectiveness of marine conservation globally.

An Assessment of the Costs and Benefits of Mining Deepsea Minerals in the Pacific Island Region: Deep-sea Mining Cost-Benefit Analysis

The Marine Protected Area (MPA) Guide refines existing language and captures a shared vision to describe MPAs and the conservation outcomes they provide. The Guide is the work of many hundreds of stakeholders from around the world.

A comprehensive understanding of the deep-sea environment and mining’s likely impacts is necessary to assess whether and under what conditions deep-seabed mining operations comply with the International Seabed Authority’s obligations to prevent ‘serious harm’ and ensure the ‘effective protection

Comprehensive, spatially explicit data that include regulatory information are essential for evaluating the level of protection that marine protected areas (MPAs) and other marine managed areas (MMAs) provide to marine life, and to inform progress towards ocean protection targets.

Protected areas are key to biodiversity conservation. While the value of protected areas is generally undisputed, challenges remain.

This report outlines the process undertaken to define and describe the special, unique marine areas of Fiji.

Fiji is committed to, and is embarking upon, a process to significantly increase the number and coverage of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) within the country.

In 2015, the Tongan Cabinet embarked upon a National Marine Spatial Planning process, establishing a marine spatial planning technical working group comprising seven Ministries (the “Ocean 7”). One of their tasks was to identify Tonga’s special, unique marine areas.

This Blue Pacific Ocean 2021 Report (BPOR) is indeed a first of its kind.

Low-cost, portable, observation-class, underwater remotely operated vehicles (microROVs), which can be transported and operated by a single user, are increasingly common tools in scientific, industrial, commercial, and recreational ocean application.

Catchment Management and Coral Reef Conservation

Human pressure mapping is important for understanding humanity’s role in shaping Earth’s patterns and processes. We provide the latest maps of the terrestrial human footprint and provide an assessment of change in human pressure across Earth.

The ecology of many coral reefs has changed markedly over recent decades in response to various combinations of local and global stressors.

Ancient Hawaiians developed sophisticated natural resource management systems that included various forms of spatial management.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are recognized as highly effective tools for marine conservation. They may also play an important role in mitigating climate change.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) provide place-based management of marine ecosystems through various degrees and types of protective actions.

The aim of the present report is to provide a comparative assessment of commonly used pelagic sampling methods.

Conservation standards: From rights to responsibilities

This brief seeks to bring clarity to the question of what could count toward the 30% global minimum target. within the context of recognized area-based conservation measures and their ability to deliver positive long-term conservation outcomes.

The United Nations are currently negotiating a new international legally-binding instrument to govern the global ocean commons, a vast area beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) owned by everyone but not cared for by any single entity.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has just finished a report on the "Contribution of Marine Conservation Agreements to Biodiversity Protection, Fisheries Management and Sustainable Financing in Fiji."The report documents the degree and scale to which Marine Conservation Agreements (MCAs) ar

Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean

In April 2011, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (KSLOF) embarked on the Global Reef Expedition (GRE)- the largest coral reef survey and mapping expedition in history. The GRE was a rigorous five-year scientific mission to study coral reefs around the world.

Coral reefs underpin a range of ecosystem goods and services that contribute to the well‐being of millions of people. However, tropical coral reefs in the Anthropocene are likely to be functionally different from reefs in the past.