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Indicator Assessment
By the end of 2012, EU Member States had designated 5.9 %, or a total of 338 000 km2, of their seas as part of a complex network of marine protected areas.
As such, the EU had not reached Aichi target 11 of 10 % coverage of its seas. However, the target was reached in certain regional seas (Baltic Sea, the Greater North Sea including the Kattegat and the English Channel, and the Western Mediterranean Sea)
Europe's seas and selected characteristics of EU marine protected area networks
Coverage of marine protected areas in Europe's seas
Marine protected area coverage by regional sea
Note: This map shows the percentage marine protected area (MPA) coverage in Europe's regional seas. It also shows the distance to the Convention on Biological Diversity Aichi target 11 of 10 % coverage. The distance from the network coverage to the coverage target is reported with respect to three different distance buffer zones: 0-1 NM, 1-12 NM and 12 NM - END of national waters (NM = nautical miles, END = outer limit of MPA assessment area).
Coverage of marine protected area networks
In 2012, marine protected area (MPA) networks covered almost 340 000 km2, or 5.9 % of Europe's seas (Fig. 1).
A substantial number of new national sites are being added, including significant numbers in British, Spanish and Portuguese waters. These additional sites will be bringing EU MPA coverage significantly closer to the Convention on Biological Diversity target of 10 % coverage of MPAs. This figure excludes 'other effective area‑based conservation/spatial protection measures'.
Distance to Aichi target of 10 % coverage
In regional seas, only three out of ten European regional seas, namely the Baltic Sea, the Greater North Sea and the Western Mediterranean Sea, have so far met the Aichi target of 10 % coverage (Fig. 2, Fig. 3). However, if the regional sea MPA network coverage is measured with respect to the three buffer distance belts (0-1 NM, 1-12 NM, 12 NM-END, (NM = nautical miles, END = outer limit of MPA assessment area), large differences in coverage are observed between coastal and off shore waters.
The 10 % coverage target has been achieved in the near shore area (0-1 NM) in all regional seas. Closer analysis shows differences in reaching the Aichi target in the remaining parts of territorial waters (1-12 NM): three out of eight regional seas reach the 10 % coverage (the Greater North Sea, the Bay of Biscay and Iberian coast, and the Western Mediterranean Sea). Only two regional seas (the Greater North Sea and the Western Mediterranean Sea) reach 10 % coverage in offshore areas (12 NM-END).
These results indicate that conservation efforts in establishing MPAs have been applied more in coastal waters than in offshore waters.
Overall, since 1992, the EU has put a lot of effort into establishing MPA networks and with considerable success. Networks have been created at national, regional and European level. European countries have even expanded efforts internationally and agreed to create MPAs in the High Seas. However, the rationale underpinning the designations and their specific objectives is often related to a specific site rather than the network as a whole (EEA, 2015).
References
EEA, 2015. Marine protected areas in Europe's seas — An overview and perspectives for the future. EEA Report, no 3/2015. http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/marine-protected-areas-in-europes
This indicator measures the percentage of the marine protected area network coverage obtained by combining the distribution of marine sites established by EC Member States as reported under Natura 2000 (N2K), the Common Database on Designated Areas (CDDA) and Regional Sea Convention databases in order to indicate the overall network distance to the 10 % coverage target.
The combined percentage covered is calculated with respect to the MPA assessment area of Europe's regional seas as reported by each EU Member State in the MSFD reporting process. The distance from the network coverage to the coverage target is also reported with respect to three different distance buffer zones: 0-1 NM, 1-12 NM and 12 NM - END of national waters (NM = nautical miles, END = outer limit of MPA assessment area).
% cover of MPA network in European regional seas and per distance buffer zone.
The Convention on Biological Diversity has defined a Strategic Plan for the period 2011-2020. This plan consists of five strategic goals, including twenty Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Among the latter, Aichi target 11 foresees that by 2020, at least 10 % of coastal and marine areas are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures.
Article 21 of the MSFD requires a progress report on protected areas to be sent to the European Council and Parliament by the Commission. This indicator can provide concrete input to such a process.
The Convention on Biological Diversity Aichi Target 11 states: By 2020, at least [...] 10 % of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscape and seascape.
The MPA network coverage evaluation was conducted using those marine sites identified in the spatial statistics on MPA distribution presented in the EEA Technical Report (2015,b), which is based on data reported by Member States at the end of 2012. The statistical MPA analysis identified Natura 2000 marine sites, based on a combination of a tabular query for marine features (i.e. Habitats Directive habitats and species, marine percentage cover, presence of marine generic habitats), whose output was subsequently overlaid against the EEA coastline so as to obtain the spatial selection of marine Natura 2000 sites lying within each MSFD reported sub region. CDDA marine sites were instead selected spatially from sites falling seaward of the coastline and whose marine surface area extension represented more than 5 % of the total surface area declared for the site. Further methodological details, both for the marine site identification and for the assessment areas definition, can be found in the EEA technical report (EEA, 2015b).
The indicator refers to the coverage of the entire MPA network present in Europe’s seas, as inferred from the data stored in the following databases: Natura 2000 network, the nationally designated sites recorded in the Common Database on Designated Areas (CDDA) and Regional Sea Convention (RSC) areas encompassing EU waters. Datasets were considered altogether and coverage computation refers to all overlapping protected surfaces. Spatial protected area coverage was merged by sub-region and buffer belt. The resulting MPA surface coverage by sub-region and buffer belt was then related to the respective sub-region surface and buffer belt.
Updates of the indicator will be based on information reported to the CDDA and Natura 2000 databases. No further gap filling is envisioned.
The selection of marine sites for databases containing both terrestrial and marine protected areas (Natura 2000 and CDDA) was carried out using different approaches because of the absence of information on marine features in the CDDA tabular database.
The spatial/tabular datasets used are affected by some inconsistencies:
No uncertainty has been specified.
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/marine-protected-area-mpa-network-coverage/assessment or scan the QR code.
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