International Waters learning Exchange & Resource Network

Casting the Net Wider: Expanding Regional Protection for the ATS Region

To protect and manage a large marine ecosystem such as the Arafura and Timor Seas (ATS) region is no easy feat. One tried and tested method is to focus efforts on High Conservation Value Areas (HCVA). In recent years, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), and especially ‘no-take zones’, have become popular tools employed by regional managers around the world, in their attempts to maximise conservation gains.A well-designed and effectively managed MPA can protect biodiversity, increase ecosystem resilience (especially in response to fluctuations in climate and ocean chemistry), enhance fisheries productivity, and address local threats (Green et al. 2014, 2019). When individual MPAs are stitched together to form a network, the ecological benefits are greater; impacts can be seen more clearly after disturbances, while neighbouring MPAs can mutually replenish one another to facilitate recovery (Green et al. 2019).Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Timor-Leste, which border the ATS region, already have existing MPAs (and spatial plans that identify potential areas for MPAs based on comprehensive planning exercises). These include: Australia’s Commonwealth Marine Park plan (Commonwealth Australia, 2018); Indonesia’s Lesser Sunda Ecoregion (Wilson, 2011), Fisheries Management Area 715 and six associated provinces MPA network designs (Fajariyanto et al. 2019); PNG’s national MPA plan (PNG Government, 2015); and Timor-Leste’s National Protected Area Design (Grantham et al. 2010). However, these existing and proposed MPAs were never originally designed to form cohesive ecological networks on a regional scale. To address the gaps in national MPAs and their networks, the ATS Strategic Action Programme (SAP) set out to improve regional coordination in conserving coastal and marine ecosystems and critical habitats. In support of these priority actions, the ATSEA-2 programme set out to design an MPA network for the ATS region, by commissioning the Coral Triangle Center; Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara; and Dr. Alison Green, Research Scientist at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. The design had to consider regional biophysical, socioeconomic and cultural aspects that were not taken into account under previous national processes.The scale and scope of this work presented a challenge; problems that were exacerbated by the emergence of Covid-19. However, despite limited time, resources and capacity for mobilisation, the team successfully created a design that built on existing MPAs and marine spatial plans from each country, using the best available data and best practices to identify gaps in existing MPA networks. Crucially, they achieved their protection targets while also minimising the impacts of resource utilisation such as capture fisheries, oil and gas mining, and shipping. The first design of the network spreads over a total area of 300,873 km2, consisting of 92 existing and proposed MPAs (covering 271,406 km2), and 18 Areas of Interest (AOI) (covering 29,467 km2), including 13 AOIs from existing plans and five proposed AOIs considered significant to the achievement of conservation goals in the ATS region.

6920: Implementation of the Arafura and Timor Seas Regional and National Strategic Action Programs

24 mai 2021

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