[MedPartnership] Regional Project for the Development of a Mediterranean Marine and Coastal Protected Areas Network through the boosting of MPAs Creation and Management “MedMPAnet” Project [Experience Note]
This activity aims mainly at assisting Mediterranean riparian countries in the setting up of an ecologically coherent network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the region. It has been addressed through the identification and characterisation of marine sites suitable to become MPAs, and also through demonstration projects for MPA creation and planning, including stakeholders’ participation and financial sustainability mechanisms. The project allowed the identification, listing and ecological characterisation of 24 priority areas of conservation interest in Croatia, Lebanon, Morocco and Montenegro. It provided support for the inception, ecological and socioeconomic characterization, zoning and management planning of four new MPAs in Albania (Porto Palermo), Algeria (Réghaia), Morocco (Cap des Trois Fourches) and Tunisia (Kuriat Islands). Business plans have been elaborated for the three demonstrations in Albania, Algeria and Morocco. Furthermore, technical assistance and capacity building activities to improve MPA management have been provided through regional and national training workshops, on-the-job training, small-granted projects, and technical tools and teaching packages. The project’s efforts led to the declaration or the launching of declaration processes of seven MPAs (totalling a surface of 98,411 ha of marine waters), which are: Porto Palermo (Albania), Réghaia (Algeria), Ras Chekaa, and Naqoura (Lebanon), Ain AlGhazala & Bomba Gulf (Libya), Cap des Trois Fourches (Morocco) and Kuriat Islands (Tunisia).
[MedPartnership] Regional Project for the Development of a Mediterranean Marine and Coastal Protected Areas Network through the boosting of MPAs Creation and Management “MedMPAnet” Project [Experience Note].pdf
