Marine Conservation Institute announced that Pitcairn Islands Marine Protected Area (MPA) won the prestigious platinum-level Blue Park Award for exceptional marine wildlife conservation at the 5th International Marine Protected Area Congress (IMPAC5). Representatives from the Blue Parks Science Council, an international council of marine conservation experts that determines which marine protected areas meet the award criteria, and President of Marine Conservation Institute, Dr. Lance Morgan, announced the award for Pitcairn Islands MPA, which will receive US $8,000 and join a growing network of 27 awarded Blue Parks around the global ocean that have met the highest science- based standards for conservation effectiveness.
“We are so excited to receive the Blue Park Award. We are a tiny, remote island with a population of under 50 people, so we thought awards went to bigger places. Yet we are making a global contribution and are proud to conserve our ocean biodiversity and pristine waters for everyone. We hope this inspires some of those bigger places to join us!” said Melva Evans, MPA Officer for Pitcairn Islands MPA.
Simon Young, the Mayor of Pitcairn said, “Our community is honoured to receive an award recognising and highlighting our continued commitment to tangible environmentally sustainable projects.”
In the remote central South Pacific Ocean, Pitcairn Islands MPA encompasses the entire Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the territorial seas of four small islands, collectively called the Pitcairn Islands – nearly 850,000 square kilometers. Pitcairn Island is the only inhabited island within the MPA with a very small local community. The MPA’s management is highly participatory, and the community participates in management activities, such as the long-term monitoring of key habitats and species. While 99.5% of the MPA is a no-take zone, small zones surround each island allow for limited subsistence fishing by residents of Pitcairn Island.
Due in part to its remote location and isolation from human activity, Pitcairn Islands MPA protects some of the few remaining near-pristine coral reef atolls and coral reef ecosystems in the world. The blue waters in this region are supremely clear, which allows corals to grow at unusual depths in cooler waters. This may improve the resilience of these coral ecosystems to climate impacts and allow the area to serve as a refuge for various species from global climatic threats. Further offshore, the seafloor bathymetry is dominated by two seamount chains with a high density of over 90 volcanic seamounts rising from the sea floor.
“Congratulations to the 2023 Blue Parks,” said Dr. Lance Morgan, President of Marine Conservation Institute. “These MPAs offer protection to critical marine ecosystems, revitalize ocean health, and benefit the livelihoods and well-being of local communities. We hope other governments and communities look at these outstanding Blue Parks as examples of strong and effective commitments to ocean protection that they could also pursue.”
The Blue Park Awards are supported by Blue, the Blue Endowment Fund. The Blue Park Award recognizes outstanding efforts by national governments, nonprofit organizations, MPA managers, and local communities to effectively protect marine ecosystems now and for the future. The award has been given annually since its launch in 2017. The 2023 Blue Parks join the Blue Parks Network, made up of some of the world’s most outstanding marine protected areas and ocean champions.
“Blue Park Awards recognize MPAs that effectively contribute to international ocean conservation targets,” says Dr. Sarah Hameed, Senior Scientist and Director of the Blue Parks Program. “Blue Parks ensures that we not only meet area-based targets by accelerating MPA designations, but that the protection put in place truly safeguards marine biodiversity. We’re thrilled to welcome three new MPAs to the Blue Parks Network.”
Pitcairn Islands MPA is the first awarded Blue Park in the Pitcairn Islands and in a United Kingdom Overseas Territory. To date, Blue Parks cover nearly 3 million square kilometers of ocean, spanning 22 countries. Marine Conservation Institute’s rigorous science-based criteria and an international panel of esteemed marine scientists are key to vetting and ensuring that these MPAs provide examples of the most effective marine life conservation. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, recently adopted at the UN Biodiversity Conference, includes a target aiming to protect 30% of marine and coastal areas by 2030 (‘30×30’), and the Blue Parks initiative aims to ensure that as more marine protected areas are created, they effectively contribute to biodiversity conservation.
About Blue Parks
Blue Park Awards were established by Marine Conservation Institute to encourage high quality marine protected areas (MPAs) that safeguard marine wildlife, secure critical habitats, promote resilience, and ensure the inspiring beauty of our oceans for future generations. The effort aims to assemble an effective network that sustains marine life and ecosystems globally. Currently, there are 27 marine protected areas that have earned Blue Park Awards.
In addition to awarding new Blue Parks, Marine Conservation Institute has launched collaborations — Blue Sparks — with groups planning new marine protected areas and upgrading existing marine protected areas in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Panama, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Mozambique to ensure their efforts result in future Blue Parks.
About Marine Conservation Institute
Marine Conservation Institute, founded in 1996, works in the U.S. and globally to seek strong protection for at least 30% of the ocean by 2030—for us and future generations. Our focus on protecting the ocean’s most important places follows several lines of work: identifying and advocating for strong marine protected areas; improving laws and other tools to better conserve marine biodiversity; catalyzing effective conservation by recognizing and elevating the best marine protected areas as Blue Parks; and accurately reporting on global conservation efforts with our Marine Protection Atlas (MPAtlas.org).
About Blue Endowment Fund
Blue is a non-profit endowment fund aiming at building a better future through project grants, equity investments and initiative incubation. Blue provides financial grants for effective, efficient and sustainable projects to strengthen resilient marine ecosystems, and sponsors the Blue Park Awards.
This piece was prepared online by Panuruji Kenta, Publisher, SEVENSEAS Media