According to a fresh report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), 19 out of 21 Mediterranean countries are far from achieving the minimum agreed level of commitment to establish and manage Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in 10 percent of coastal areas by 2020, and governments must sign a new deal to protect biodiversity in a region experiencing increased levels of tourism and resource extraction
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th November, 2019) According to a fresh report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), 19 out of 21 Mediterranean countries are far from achieving the minimum agreed level of commitment to establish and manage Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in 10 percent of coastal areas by 2020, and governments must sign a new deal to protect biodiversity in a region experiencing increased levels of tourism and resource extraction.MPAs were originally established with the goal of protecting biodiversity in the region. According to the WWF, 80 percent of fish stocks in the Mediterranean are overfished, and marine mammal populations have fallen by 41 percent in the last 50 years. This decline has been blamed on unsustainable fishing, increased pollution levels, coastal development and tourism. The Mediterranean attracts a third of global tourism, the report claimed.
According to the environmentalist group, only France and Spain have fulfilled a pledge signed a decade ago to create managed MPAs on at least 10 percent of their waters. In total, only 2.48 percent of the Mediterranean Sea is currently covered by managed MPAs, the organization noted.
"The recurring inaction from governments to restore and protect marine biodiversity is critically undermining our ocean's capacity to mitigate the impact of the climate crisis and to support a sustainable blue economy. Mediterranean Member States must stand by their commitments and make effective marine biodiversity protection a top political priority," Marine Protection and Spatial Planning Policy Coordinator at the WWF European Policy Office, Janica Borg, stated on the organization's website.
Many states have created "paper parks," defined as MPAs that are not effectively managed, and where violations are not reported, the WWF claimed.
Despite projections that most countries will fail to meet minimum targets, the WWF proposed that Mediterranean countries sign a New Deal for Nature and People in order to prevent what Director General Marco Lambertini called a "planetary emergency," as quoted in the report's foreword.
The proposed framework would set more ambitious protection targets, set stronger qualitative requirements of countries, create more robust and transparent mechanisms of accountability, integrate MPAs into a wider management structure and ensure good governance within and beyond territorial waters, the report outlined.
MPAs are clearly defined geographical spaces which are recognized and managed through legal means to achieve the long-term conservation of ecosystems. In the Mediterranean, MPAs include areas where gas and oil extraction is forbidden, or where fishing is prohibited in order to protect stocks.
