Connecting Nature Socio-Economic Benefits of the EU Marine Protected Areas

This report collects, systematises and discusses the available evidence on the socio-economic benefits provided by the protection of European coastal areas and seascapes. The focus is on benefits associated with MPAs.

Ecosystems

Coastal
Marine inlets and transitional waters
Open ocean

Methods

Policy analysis
Valuation: socio cultural

Constraints

Where information relating directly to MPAs is not available the report has used studies documenting benefits associated with protection or restoration of coastal and marine ecosystems in general, considering this as indirect evidence for MPAs.

Product requirements

MPAs play a key role in the protection of marine biodiversity and ecosystems. As with terrestrial protected areas, this is the principal objective of their establishment.
As European experience in managing MPAs is increasing, it is becoming more and more evident that MPAs also provide benefits beyond biodiversity conservation. They can help to maintain and improve the provision of a wide range of ecosystem services and related socio-economic benefits provided by coastal and marine ecosystems. This realisation is supported by emerging data from existing sites that have now been in place long enough to assess their effects.

Advantages

The report discusses a range of ecosystem services associated with MPAs including food provisioning, climate change mitigation, nature based tourism and recreation, coastal security, opportunities for blue biotech, bioprospecting and research, broader socio-economic prospects and non-use values.

Links

Contact details

Daniella Russi
drussi@ieep.eu

Disclaimer:
The arguments expressed in this report are solely those of the authors, and do not reflect the opinion of any other party.

The report should be cited as follows:
Russi D., Pantzar M., Kettunen M., Gitti G., Mutafoglu K., Kotulak M. & ten Brink P.(2016). Socio-Economic Benefits of the EU Marine Protected Areas. Report prepared by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) for DG Environment

Corresponding author:
Daniela Russi (drussi@ieep.eu)

Acknowledgements:
We would like to thank the Marine Expert Group at DG Environment for their comments and suggestions on a first draft of this report. In particular, we are grateful to Benjamin Ponge (French Marine Protected Areas Agency), Tiziana Luisetti (Cefas), Elena Diaz Almela (IMEDEA), Concha Almeda (ATECMA). We also thank Katie Taylor, Maeve Howe and Emma Watkins (IEEP) for their revision of this report.

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Socio-Economic Benefits of the EU Marine Protected Areas