A new report titled "30 by 30: Scenarios to recover biodiversity and rebuild fish stocks in the Mediterranean" by WWF sheds new light on the importance of conservation and advocates for bolder action to ensure that 30 per cent of the Mediterranean Sea be protected by 2030—an objective under negotiation within the UN Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD) and enshrined in two landmark strategic plans currently being prepared by SPA/RAC, the UNEP/MAP Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas, under the Barcelona Convention.
The two strategic plans currently under development – namely the post-2020 Strategic Action Programme for the Conservation of the Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean Region (SAPBIO), and the post-2020 Regional Strategy for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs)— will be submitted to the 22nd Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols (COP 22, December 2021, Antalya, Turkey) for adoption.
The WWF report shows, based on modelling, an increase of 4 to 20 per cent in species biomass that “various spatial-conservation scenarios”, varying in coverage (from 14 to 46 per cent) and level of protection (from highly to fully protected), would bring about—thus illustrating the importance of challenging the “status quo”.
“The scenarios modelled provide a set of options of marine macro areas in which candidate MPAs and OECMs should be proposed, and can inform policy discussion at national and regional level (including through the UNEP Mediterranean Action Plan, the Barcelona Convention and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean – GFCM),” the report reads.
UNEP/MAP and GFCM share a long history of partnership and cooperation aiming to halt and reverse the decline of fish stocks in the Mediterranean. The Barcelona Convention COP 22 will serve as a regionally adequate platform to address the issue.
The UNEP/MAP-Barcelona Convention system continues to be the most relevant and mature framework for the protection of the marine and coastal environment of the Mediterranean and its contribution to sustainable development in the region. The Secretariat has in recent months stepped up calls for the strengthened enforcement of and compliance with existing obligations under the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols and relevant regional and global MEAs and other multilateral frameworks for action. In the editorial of the January 2021 issue of MED-NEWS, a newsletter produced by the UNEP/MAP Regional Activity Centre for Information and Communication (INFO/RAC), the UNEP/MAP Coordinator called for strengthened cooperation among all actors—which the WWF report also recommends.
