Report on the progress in establishing marine protected areas

Summary:

Report published by the European Commission on 1 October 2015, which takes stock on the progress made by Member States in establishing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) by the end of 2012, as required by Article 21 of the EU's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).

Further information:

The EU's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) focuses on protecting marine biodiversity in particular. This Directive requires Member States to adopt Programmes of Measures to achieve good environmental status in their marine waters by 2020. The Programmes of Measures shall include spatial protection measures contributing to coherent and representative networks of marine protected areas (MPAs). Marine protected areas are a measure used across Europe’s seas for protecting vulnerable species and habitats.

This report takes stock of the progress made by Member States in establishing MPAs by the end of 2012, as required by Article 21 of the MSFD. Based on the work done by the European Environment Agency (EEA) on assessing the network of European MPAs, the report looks at the progress made on the establishment of marine protected areas by Member States before examining the coherence and representativity of MPA networks, as required by Article 13(4). Lastly the report provides an outlook for the work which remains to be done. Two technical annexes are attached to the report which define the terminology used in the report, provide the European and international legal context of the establishment of MPAs, and contain tables illustrating the figures used in the report.