On the 18th of June 2021, MIO-ECSDE organized the 1st MPA Engage capitalization event providing an opportunity for stakeholders to connect and share experiences towards a collective and consolidated response to climate change in Mediterranean MPAs.
Climate change is dramatically affecting the Mediterranean Sea, which is warming at a rate 20% faster than the world’s average. MPAs, despite the nature-based solution they offer to support efforts towards climate change adaptation and mitigation, are the first ones to feel the climate change effects.
The online event, organized by MIO-ECSDE and facilitated by Jeremy Wilks, climate correspondent at Euronews, brought together prominent speakers and more than 120 participants, to discuss the recent policy and scientific advances with regards to climate change and its impacts in the region. At the heart of the capitalization event lied the MPA Engage featured actions aiming to support MPA managers to adapt to and mitigate the ongoing climate change effects.
The members of the project’s capitalization boards, Science4Change (brings together scientists from the Mediterranean), MPA4Change (brings together managers of Mediterranean MPAs), Med4Change (brings together the main Mediterranean policy actors) and other stakeholders, engaged in lively discussions focused on key climate change related topics such as monitoring approaches, vulnerability assessments, citizen/participatory science campaigns and participatory decision-making processes for the elaboration of climate change adaptation and mitigation action plans in Mediterranean MPAs.
The main take-home message of the event, highlighted by Jeremy Wilks was “Act local, think Mediterranean!”
Find the event’s agenda here and the event’s recording here.
The event’s presentations are listed below:
Setting the scene
- EU policy advances on climate change and MPA related issues | Patrick Wegerdt, DG Environment, European Commission
- UfM policy advances on climate change and MPA related issues | Alessandra Sensi, Union for the Mediterranean
- Barcelona Convention policy advances on climate change and MPA related issues | Stavros Antoniadis, UNEP/MAP
Advancing knowledge and actions to tackle climate change in Mediterranean MPAs: the MPA Engage showcase
- The MPA Engage in a nutshell | Joaquim Garrabou, CSIC
- The MPA Engage harmonized monitoring approaches | Ernesto Azzurro, Anton Dohrn Zoological Station
- The MPA Engage vulnerability assessments | Elena Ojea, University of Vigo
- The MPA Engage citizen science actions | Carlo Cerrano, Polytechnic University of Marche
- The MPA Engage participatory approach to elaborate action plans | Thomais Vlachogianni, MIO-ECSDE
Acting local & thinking Mediterranean: sharing local experiences on how MPAs support mitigation and adaptation to climate change
- The MPA Engage experience in Portofino MPA | Lorenzo Merotto, Portofino MPA
- The MPA Engage experience in Brijuni National Park | Andrea Blašković, Brijuni National Park
- The H2020 FutureMares project in the Mediterranean | Myron Peck, University of Hamburg
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The MPA ENGAGE is an Interreg Med funded project aiming to support MPA managers to adapt to and mitigate the ongoing climate change effects in the Mediterranean Sea. Read more here
Read in French here