Methodology
The aim of MedRAS is to develop with other partners a regional methodology to identify priority conservation areas in the Mediterranean Sea supported with science-based criteria. The approach focuses on representing the Mediterranean marine biodiversity with a special attention to particularly significant features and sensitive areas avoiding the existing imbalance in Protected Area designation in the Mediterranean (i.e. Full reserves, marine protected areas, national parks, fisheries refugia, maritime traffic exclusion corridors,…) where there are large differences between the countries north and south of the Mediterranean.
The methodology is divided into 3 steps that lead to the development of operating principles and guiding criteria taking into consideration the biophysical features of the marine space to protect, and developing the blueprint of a regional representative network of Protected Areas:
- The first step is developed together with regional Advisory experts and aims to identify large scale ecological units at the Mediterranean Basin level. This sets the most significant biodiversity features that need to be considered for protection by recognising ecological distinctions between different parts of the Mediterranean Sea, and ensuring that the network is comprehensive and representative of all of its sub-regions,
- The second step involves experts who will refine the methodology and the criteria by adjusting them to the particularities of each region. This concerns the application of the criteria adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and other organisations together with considerations of the bio-geographic habitat classification system, the key ecological features, the socio-economic data and the existing impacts and potential threats
- The third step is developed with the support of Mediterranean scientific and technical experts who identify at the regional or national level representative areas in the Mediterranean Sea. These identified sites will be evaluated with the agreed set of criteria and considered as potential locations to be managed or protected within a coherent and representative network of Mediterranean Protected Areas. The process is currently being developed through pilot sites for selected sub-regions and the methodology and criteria will be reviewed for implementation in other areas and at the Mediterranean level.
