Protected Areas Working Group (PAWG) of the Pacific Islands Roundtable for Nature Conservation

Despite considerable efforts these past four years, we are not on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. We must dramatically step up the pace of implementation as we enter a decisive decade for people and the planet.

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. 

With the establishment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, the Human Development Forum launched a series of publications entitled A Better World, each volume dedicated to one of the 17 SDGs.

After brief introductory comments on the Dasgupta Review, I turn to a subject little discussed in this report, the Convention on Biological Diversity.

This paper contrasts seven spatial biodiversity conservation area designations by six different bodies: Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs), and the Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); the Vulnerable Marine

The KBA Standard is formally taken to include definitions, the criteria and thresholds, and delineation procedures.

A case is put forward to make best use of UNEP’s Regional Seas Programme (RSP) for the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) post-2020 global biodiversity framework (GBF).

Understanding the scale, location and nature conservation values of the lands over which Indigenous Peoples exercise traditional rights is central to implementation of several global conservation and climate agreements.

A Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) is under discussion for the period 2021–2030, which will replace the ‘‘Aichi Targets’’ adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2010.

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

Sustainable tourism involves increasingly attracting visitors while preserving the natural capital of a destination for future generations.

Aichi Biodiversity Targets - Pacific Regional Workshop, Fiji, July 11-13, 2016

Alliance for Zero Extinction

An Australian Coral Sea Heritage Park

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.

Many conservation managers, policy makers, businesses and local communities cannot access the biodiversity data they need for informed decision-making on natural resource management.

Humanity will soon define a new era for nature—one that seeks to transform decades of underwhelming responses to the global biodiversity crisis.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are ubiquitous in global ocean conservation and play a pivotal role in achieving local, national, and regional area-based conservation targets.

This is the final report prepared by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) for submission to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Papua New Guinea Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (CEPA) in relation to the 2016–17 assessment of t

National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) were always seen as a key instrument for national implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and other biodiversity-related multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs).

Other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) represent unique opportunities to help achieve the 2030 biodiversity conservation agenda. However, potential misuse by governments and economic sectors could compromise the outcome of these conservation efforts.

This guidance document identifies the best options for successful delivery of draft Target 3 of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) from the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). There is good evidence that this will radically increase the success of biodiversity conservation.

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.

Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ)

The Biodiversity Indicators Dashboard

Measuring Progress and Challenges to Conservation

Biodiversity Indicators Partnership

Global support is growing for the 30 × 30 movement — a goal to conserve 30% of the planet by 2030. In May, the G7 group of wealthy nations endorsed the commitment to this target that had been made by more than 50 countries in January.

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 document is an important tool for promoting action. It highlights the importance of culturally‐responsive capacity development, with Pacific Islanders defining the most appropriate approaches to be used.

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.

Community Based Management resources

This compendium of guidance provides details of information sources for capturing, managing, using, and sharing data, all in the context of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

The purpose of the document is to help increase access to existing guidance material on synergies among biodiversity-related conventions and to provide a basis for identifying gaps in the available guidance.

This compendium is a compilation of available global databases.

For successful conservation of biodiversity, it is vital to know whether protected areas in increasingly fragmented landscapes effectively safeguard species. However, how large habitat fragments must be, and what level of protection is required to sustain species, remains poorly known.

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.

Conserving our sea of islands: State of protected and conserved areas in Oceania is a landmark publication, bringing together regional and international experts to prepare the first comprehensive review of the status and issues for protected and conserved areas in the region.

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.

Resource sustainability requires recognising and developing pathways to integrate local and Indigenous knowledges alongside conservation and sustainability sciences within management practices and governance.

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 Biological Diversity (CBD)

Biodiversity loss is a social and ecological emergency, and calls have been made for the global expansion of protected areas (PAs) to tackle this crisis. It is unclear, however, where best to locate new PAs to protect biodiversity cost-effectively.

During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, management authorities of numerous Protected Areas (PAs) had to discourage visitors from accessing them in order to reduce the virus transmission rate and protect local communities.

Aichi Target 11 committed governments to protect ≥17% of their terrestrial environments by 2020, yet it was rarely achieved, raising questions about the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework goal to protect 30% by 2030.

Over the last decades scientists have discovered that seagrass meadows, tidal marshes, and mangroves – “blue carbon” ecosystems – are among the most intensive carbon sinks in the biosphere.

Dare To Be Deep:  SeaStates Report on North America’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)