Marine Protected Areas and Maritime Spatial Planning in the North Sea: National approaches and implications for effective protection

Seas At Risk, together with its North Sea Alliance partners Deutsche Umwelthilfe, the North Sea Foundation, WWF Belgium, WWF Denmark, WWF EU and WWF Germany, published a joint position paper on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP). The paper provides an overview of MPA integration in MSP around the North Sea, notes the substantial gap between MPA designation and effective protection and sets out recommendations to ensure that protection targets are met not only on paper. To this end, the paper calls for legally binding, strictly protected MPAs that exclude all extractive and habitat-damaging activities, prioritisation of nature protection and restoration in MSP and adequate resources for monitoring and enforcement. The paper further calls for passive restoration through strict protection to be prioritised under the EU Nature Restoration Regulation and for the upcoming Ocean Act to set binding, measurable targets, including effective protection of at least 30% of EU seas, of which at least 10% should be strictly protected.

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