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SUSTAINABLE FINANCING OF MPAs IN THE MEDITERRANEAN: A FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

2.1 Context of the study

KEY POINTS:
Under Aichi Target 11, to ensure the resilience and provision of essential services by
marine ecosystems, Parties of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity have pledged to conserve
10 percent of their coastal and marine areas through effectively and equitably managed
ecologically representative and well-connected systems of Protected Areas by 2020.
The target of 10% protection of Mediterranean waters is far from being achieved: the 677
MPAs inventoried in the 2012 Status of Mediterranean MPAs cover a total surface area of
almost 114,600 km², which is about 4.56% of the Mediterranean; and only 1.08%
excluding the Pelagos Sanctuary (87,500 km²).
Within the 12 nautical mile zone, only 2.5% of Mediterranean territorial waters are
protected through a system of national Protected Areas (if the Pelagos Sanctuary and its
contribution of 5.5% is excluded). In 2012, many MPAs in the Mediterranean still faced
operational difficulties due to insufficient budget to finance their operating costs:
among the 677 existing Mediterranean MPAs, it was estimated that several hundred had no
budget at all. This lack of financing threatens the performance of MPAs in protecting the
marine environment.

2.1.1 International context: the strategic plan for biodiversity 2011-2020 and
the Aichi targets

Within the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), member countries
drew up a revised and updated strategic plan for 2011-2020 to pursue the goals of
biodiversity conservation, sustainable use and equitable benefit sharing. The strategic plan
comprises 20 targets, known as the Aichi targets, which cover a whole range of objectives
addressing the underlying causes of biodiversity loss, direct and indirect pressures on
biodiversity and ecosystems, enhancing good practices for biodiversity conservation and
safeguarding ecosystems and their ecological services.
National Biodiversity Strategies and Actions Plans (NBSAP) are the main policy instruments
for including biodiversity conservation in national policy and economic sectors in order to
maintain and protect the ecological services that are essential for human well-being.
Protected Areas are the centerpiece of these national strategies and policies, with a long
tradition of activities preserving the most significant ecosystems and species over time. Due
to the multiple pressures resulting from development and continuous population growth,
Protected Areas have also become a major contributor to social and economic wealth. They
require the creation of self-sustaining institutions at the local and regional level.
Aichi Target 11, included in the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity adopted in 2010, states that
“by 2020, at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water, and 10 per cent of coastal and
marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem
services, are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically
representative and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-
based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscape and seascapes.”

May 2015 – Vertigo Lab, for MedPAN, RAC/SPA and WWF Med. Page 17