Critical gaps in the protection of the second largest exclusive economic zone in the world

A healthy Ocean is critical for achieving sustainable development goals but the Ocean is threatened by multiple stressors. There is a global call to increase the coverage of marine protected areas (MPAs) from 10% to at least 30% by 2030. France, a major actor for marine conservation with the second...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Claudet, J. (Author), Loiseau, C. (Author), Pebayle, A. (Author)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier Ltd 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:View Fulltext in Publisher
LEADER 02893nam a2200349Ia 4500
001 10.1016-j.marpol.2020.104379
008 220427s2021 CNT 000 0 und d
020 |a 0308597X (ISSN) 
245 1 0 |a Critical gaps in the protection of the second largest exclusive economic zone in the world 
260 0 |b Elsevier Ltd  |c 2021 
856 |z View Fulltext in Publisher  |u https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2020.104379 
520 3 |a A healthy Ocean is critical for achieving sustainable development goals but the Ocean is threatened by multiple stressors. There is a global call to increase the coverage of marine protected areas (MPAs) from 10% to at least 30% by 2030. France, a major actor for marine conservation with the second largest exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the world, with territories in all Ocean basins but the Arctic, aims at reaching the 30% by 2022, for which one third shall include a strong protection status. However, the strategy to reach this twofold target faces two challenges. First, while some standards exist to classify the levels of protection, France is currently using a case specific, loose approach to define strong protection. Second, there is no criteria that addresses the representativeness of the protection across French Ocean basins. Here, we assess the protection levels of the 524 French MPAs and their distribution across territories and habitats. While 33.7% of France's waters are covered by an MPA, 12.5% of these areas do not impose regulations stronger inside than outside. Full and high levels of protection, the most effective for biodiversity conservation, represent only 1.6% of French waters and are unevenly distributed across Ocean basins and habitats, with 80.5% concentrated in a single territory. To fill this gap in protection for the second largest exclusive economic zone in the world, it is critical that France's high ambition is both qualitatively and quantitatively deployed in each Ocean basin to protect our Ocean, its biodiversity and to sustain the livelihood of millions of people. Current efforts at protecting the second largest exclusive economic zone in the world are unevenly distributed and are missing entire parts of ecosystems and Ocean basins © 2020 
650 0 4 |a Arctic 
650 0 4 |a biodiversity 
650 0 4 |a Conservation 
650 0 4 |a Convention on biological diversity 
650 0 4 |a Europe and overseas territories 
650 0 4 |a France 
650 0 4 |a marine park 
650 0 4 |a marine policy 
650 0 4 |a Marine policy 
650 0 4 |a nature conservation 
650 0 4 |a qualitative analysis 
650 0 4 |a quantitative analysis 
650 0 4 |a Sustainable Development Goal 
650 0 4 |a territory 
650 0 4 |a UN sustainable development goals 
650 0 4 |a United Nations 
700 1 |a Claudet, J.  |e author 
700 1 |a Loiseau, C.  |e author 
700 1 |a Pebayle, A.  |e author 
773 |t Marine Policy