This article was prepared to mark the 2021 edition of International Day for Biological Diversity
The COVID-19 pandemic was already in full swing when two reports backed by the UNEP/MAP-Barcelona Convention system brought new insights into the extent and impact of the triple crisis of pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss in the Mediterranean.
The State of the Environment and Development (SoED) report, produced by Plan Bleu, a UNEP/MAP Regional Activity Centre, indicates that the Mediterranean is not on track to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, and warns that biodiversity loss, the growing impact of climate change and unrelenting pressure on ecosystems from economic sectors can lead to irreversible environmental damage in the basin.
The peer-reviewed findings of the first Mediterranean Assessment Report (MAR 1) by MedECC, an independent science network that the UNEP/MAP-Barcelona Convention system supports, shed light on “Climate and Environmental Change – Current Situation and Risks for the Future”. The report points to far-reaching impacts affecting both natural and socio-economic systems in a basin that is warming 20 per cent faster than the global average.
Both reports have raised multiple red flags on biodiversity in the Mediterranean. Although their publication in the midst of a pandemic of zoonotic origin was a coincidence, the reports provided a timely surge of evidence in support of the One-Health approach, whereby healthy ecosystems underpin human health.
The rapid decline of Posidonia oceanica meadows, a Mediterranean-endemic marine vegetation species, is one of the most eloquent symptoms of the unfolding crisis of biodiversity loss in the basin. According to the IPCC, around 70 per cent of habitat loss of Posidonia oceanica is projected by 2050 with a potential for functional extinction by 2100.
The science encapsulated in the ‘twin reports’ confirms the urgency of a post-COVID green renaissance in the Mediterranean, which would recognize and address the root causes of the triple crisis of pollution, biodiversity loss and climate change.
The recovery from the pandemic —which implies the mobilization of resources and investment decisions at all levels— offers opportunities to bolster the enforcement of and compliance with the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols at a hitherto unprecedented pace and scale. This would include a much-needed acceleration of biodiversity conservation efforts, especially under the Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity (SPA/BD) Protocol.
Mediterranean countries already have a blueprint for biodiversity conservation in the Mediterranean
There is no need to reinvent the wheel or start from scratch. Under the Barcelona Convention, the Contracting Parties have signed up to a substantial development of the normative framework on biodiversity conservation in the Mediterranean. In addition to the SPA/BD Protocol, they have adopted more than twenty strategies, action plans and regulatory measures—several of which are legally binding—covering threatened species of fauna and flora as well as key natural habitats.
Developed by SPA/RAC, the Regional Activity Centre of UNEP/MAP working on biodiversity and specially protected areas, these instruments are aligned with global commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Together, they constitute a ready-to-use blueprint on mending the dysfunctional relationship between humans and nature in the Mediterranean region.
The post-2020 Strategic Action Programme for the Conservation of the Biological Diversity and sustainable use of natural resources in the Mediterranean Region (post-2020 SAPBIO), a central piece of the regional conservation blueprint devised under the Barcelona Convention for the Mediterranean, will be examined later this year by the Contracting Parties at their COP 22, due to take place in December in Antalya, Turkey. Once adopted, the post-2020 SAPBIO is expected to lead to prioritizing and planning urgent actions at the regional and national levels for the sustainable management of Mediterranean biodiversity until 2030.
In the post-2020 SAPBIO draft, nature-based solutions are recommended as a tool to improve the health of ecosystems and promote sustainability in key sectors of Mediterranean economies, including aquaculture.
Protecting nature starts with acquiring a better understanding of it
Before developing strategies, action plans and other conservation measures, it is essential to understand nature. Collecting data on marine and coastal ecosystems and processes, in an integrated methodical manner and according to harmonized standards, is a prerequisite to achieving and maintaining Good Environmental Status.
Since the adoption of the Ecosystem Approach (EcAp) roadmap in 2008, several initiatives have been undertaken to mainstream the implementation of the Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme (IMAP) in the Mediterranean. This has led to important progress in informing biodiversity conservation decision-making processes. IMAP-MPA and EcAp MED III, two EU-funded projects implemented by UNEP/MAP and two of its Components, namely SPA/RAC and MED POL, are bolstering action in this field.
GEF Adriatic, another project implemented by UNEP/MAP and two of its Regional Activity Centres, namely PAP/RAC and SPA/RAC, as well as national institutions in Albania and Montenegro, was instrumental in the development of national Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programmes in the two countries. The first integrated assessments in selected areas led to a better understanding of marine and coastal ecosystems and to the preparation of proposals of appropriate and well-informed conservation measures.
In Montenegro, surveys in Boka Kotorska Bay (conducted by PAP/RAC and SPA/RAC, the Institute of Marine Biology with the public enterprise Morsko Dobro, the National Agency for Nature and Environment Protection and the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism) provided the basis upon which the protection of the Sopot and Drazin Vrt sites was initiated.
Sopot and Drazin Vrt host forests of Savalia savaglia, a rare species of coral that, with a lifespan of 2,700 years, is among the oldest living organisms on the planet.
Protected areas are purveyors of nature-based solutions
Last year, Plan Bleu, the France-based Regional Activity Centre of UNEP/MAP, published a policy paper titled “Enhancing the Mediterranean’s climate resilience through Nature-based Solutions”. The document explores ways in which nature-based solutions can be harnessed to enhance climate resilience by building on the services and resources provided by ecosystems and biodiversity.
Nature-based solutions are at the heart of many of the instruments developed under the Barcelona Convention. Take Marine and Coastal Protected Areas (MCPAs); by offering nature a respite in these spaces, humans let it do what it does best: self-healing.
MCPAs offer nature-based Solutions to support climate change adaptation and mitigation. By preserving marine biodiversity, MCPAs strengthen the resilience of marine ecosystems to global warming and other stressors. For instance, MPCAs play a very important role in protecting Posidonia oceanica meadows, which constitute an important carbon sink and buffer against sea acidification.
Under the SPA/BD Protocol, the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention have established a growing network of Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMIs). There are currently 39 areas included in the SPAMI List from a total of 1,126 Marine and Coastal Protected Areas (MCPAs) covering 209,303 km2. This coverage amounts to approximately 8.3 percent of the Mediterranean Sea area, with strictly protected areas representing a paltry 0.06 per cent.
Additional efforts are sorely needed to improve the management of MCPAs so as to meet the Aichi target 11 and the forthcoming 2030 target under the CBD. This goal is enshrined in the post-2020 Regional Strategy for Marine and Coastal Protected Areas (MCPAs) and Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs), prepared by SPA/RAC and due to be examined alongside the post-2020 SAPBIO by the Contracting Parties at COP 22.
Enforcement works—what we have learned from Torre Guaceto MPA (Italy)
Established in 1991, the MPA of Torre Guaceto covers an area of 2.227 hectares along the Adriatic coast of Italy. The first protection measures date back to 1970, but legislative action for the protection of the area started in earnest in 1981 with the declaration of Torre Guaceto as a “Wetland of International Interest” under the Ramsar Convention.
Six years later, WWF Italy carried out the feasibility plan for the establishment of a marine reserve, which became a reality on 4 December 1991 by virtue of a ministerial decree. The newly established MPA of Torre Guaceto was entrusted to the Coast Guard of Brindisi. In 2000, Torre Guaceto became the first example of integrated management of a protected coastal zone in the country.
Local fishers felt strongly about their right to make a living in the area where their ancestors had hauled their nets for centuries. When the enforcement of no-take measures began, they found themselves at loggerheads with the authorities. From 2000-2001 all fishing activities had been banned in the entire MPA area and frictions between local fishers and the authorities ensued.
The introduction of regulated fishing activity based on an agreement between the fishers and the MPA authority eventually put an end to the dispute. Fishers who adhered to what became known in 2005 as a “co-management protocol” committed to the protection of predator species, fish in juvenile stages and benthic communities and habitats. The community could now fish in buffer zones surrounding two no-take zones demarcated in the area.
In order to reduce the impact of fishing activities, the community accepted to use shorter trammel nets (1 km-long as opposed to the usual 2-3 km) with larger mesh size (3 cm), and to haul the nets only once every week. They also agreed to reduce fishing as soon as signs of overfishing would be detected. Data routinely collected through the monitoring of fishery yields and catch composition would keep the MPA authority and the fishers abreast of the impact of fishing on the natural resources of the area.
The science-based monitoring continues uninterrupted since 2005, thus helping manage fishing activities in an adaptive co-management experiment that makes the Torre Guaceto MPA a success story in the Mediterranean. In 2009 the site was included in the List of Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMIs) established under the SAP/BD Protocol of the Barcelona Convention.
According to the Torre Guaceto MPA authority, every euro invested in conservation, yields a return of around 11 euros in shared benefits. This and the rigor of management applied at the MPA are credited for a steady increase in social acceptance and recognition.
