A new global initiative called ‘Revive Our Ocean’ was launched recently.
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) – MPAsare designated areas within the ocean where human activities are regulated to protect marine life and ecosystems.
They are similar to land-based parks, but in the ocean, these areas offer special protection for natural or historic marine resources.
MPAs restrict human activities like fishing or mining to conserve biodiversity and other natural resources.
They are governed in different ways. Some are managed by national governments, others by local authorities, NGOs or through co-management with communities.
Community management initiatives –In Spain- Medes Island in Spain is a small no-fishing zone which is just one square kilometre in size but brings in 16 million Euro every year from diving tourism.
It is 25 times more than what fishing earns in the same area.
In Scotland - Similarly, creating a no-fishing zone on Scotland’s Isle of Arran helped marine life come back.
The number of plants and animals on the seabed has more than doubled, and nearby waters are also seeing more life.
In Philippines -RARE’s Fish Forever program has helped communities set up no-fishing zones. In 5 years, the amount of fish in those areas doubled.
Global Initiative - Coastal 500 - It includes global network of mayors and local government leaders who share knowledge and push for better policies, like banning industrial fishing near their shores.
Revive Our Ocean Initiative - Aim – To scale up effective, community-led marine protected areas (MPAs) through local action.
It hopes to remove key barriers that prevent coastal communities from protecting and managing their ocean spaces.
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It is rooted in successful models from across the world and will initially focus on 7 countries - The UK, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, the Philippines, Indonesia and Mexico.
30X30 Target – It is the target of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) that aims to protect 30% of the oceans by 2030.
Challenges in protecting MPAs - Though more than 16,000 MPAs have been established globally, amounting 8% of the world’s oceans, only 3% are currently under full protection.
Most of these MPAs are either poorly managed or allow damaging activities like bottom trawling.
