WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO BE HAPPY? MARINE PROTECTED AREAS!
The Oceanographic Institute of Monaco, historic institution dedicated to research and education on ocean protection, is being starting a new awareness campaign aimed at stressing the essential role played by these emblematic environmental zones performing a number of key functions. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), in fact, contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and provide shelter for endangered species. Moreover, they provide essential natural services for critical habitats conservation and carbon capture, allowing natural processes to regenerate, while helping to promote sustainable economic and social development.
This year's initiative results from a multi-year commitment to raise awareness about the importante of Polar Regions in maintaining the biosphere’s balance. The Oceanographic Institute has been carrying on since 2022, on the occasion of the opening of "Polar Mission", the iconic exhibition on Arctic and Antarctic ecosystems set at the Musée Océanographique able to attract more than 1.5 million visitors. The polar mission then continued through 2023. In May 2023, the Oceanographic Institute was officially included in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), and in December 2023, a group of skilled researchers and economic leaders were involved in a scientific exploration in the Antarctica with the aim to collect scientific data, bridging the gap between science and the private sector.
More recently, on the 27th November 2024, the Oceanographic Institute signed the Plaidoyer pour l'Antarctique (Advocacy for Antarctica), a programmatic book to foster the preservation of the Southern Ocean through concrete solutions and the implementation of MPAs in that region, and on a global scale.
Biodiversity is the cornerstone of the awareness campaign addressed to convey a message of hope in the safeguarding f emblematic species through nature-based solutions, reversing the negative trend of climate change and loss of biological diversity. Not by chance, the Antarctic Treaty has just celebrated its 65th anniversary (on the 1st December 2024), encouraging citizens to support conservation policies, with special regard to the 30x30 goal, protecting 30% of marine and terrestrial areas by 2030, in the footsteps of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, for conserving and restoring biodiversity.
The Sovereign Prince is constantly engaged in a joint diplomatic action to increase the number of Marine Protected Areas in Antarctica, perfectly in line with Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CAMLR Convention). In particular, the proposal of three new MPAs in the Southern Ocean are considered pivotal to achieve marine protection goals
The creation of three new Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the Southern Ocean would preserve a marine area of four million square kilometres. Those spaces are an essential step towards achieving global marine protection goals: a 650,000 km2 area on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula (proposed by Chile and Argentina in 2018, a 2.18 million km2 in the Weddel Sea and a 950,000 km2 area in eastern Antarctica by the will of the European Union and eight further states.
The MPAs Polar mission offers a unique chance to protect Nature, that is fauna, flora and their ecosystems, and to promote the development of more sustainable economic models. ***
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By Maurice Abbati
Journalist; Editor; Communication, Media and Public Relations Specialist
Lecturer and Author in English language of Technical Articles and the Manual: "Communicating the Environment to Save the Planet, a Journey into Eco-Communication" by Springer International Publishing.
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