The International Expert Working Meeting marked a key milestone in the project Towards Climate Solutions for the Safeguarding of Marine Protected Areas, led by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO in collaboration with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. The IOC hosted the meeting at its Science and Communication Centre on Harmful Algae, in cooperation with the University of Copenhagen.
The meeting brought together members of the project’s International Advisory Board, experts in climate and ecosystem modeling, Indigenous and local knowledge, MPA management and climate adaptation and resilience-based management, as well as representatives from the project’s pilot sites. Together, participants developed the first comprehensive guidance to help MPA managers globally assess climate vulnerability and risk, identify priority adaptation measures and pathways to build resilience, and translate these findings into on-the-ground action with the appropriate financing and governance support.
The three-year initiative contributes to global efforts to adequately protect marine biodiversity in a rapidly changing ocean and advance the conservation of at least 30 percent of the ocean by 2030 under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The work supports the implementation of the IOC Strategy for Sustainable Ocean Planning and Management (SOPM), which promotes a more strategic, future-oriented whole-of-society and whole-of-government approach to ocean planning and management, grounded in science, data, and knowledge.
Making Climate Vulnerability Assessments Practical for MPA Management
A central focus of the meeting was ensuring that the climate assessment guidance is practical and accessible to MPA managers and other relevant actors working across different ecological, social, cultural, and governance contexts, including nations with limited data and resources.
Participants discussed how climate change interacts with existing pressures on marine ecosystems and coastal communities, and how climate vulnerability assessments can accelerate understanding of what actions need to be prioritized to adequately conserve biodiversity in a rapidly changing climate. Discussions emphasized the importance of addressing underlying drivers of vulnerability, safeguarding the benefits people derive from marine ecosystems, and integrating climate adaptation into MPA management plans and action plans to strengthen management effectiveness, support access to financing, and build long-term resilience.
The discussions further explored how undertaking climate vulnerability assessments helps identify funding needs and support monitoring and evaluation, which in turn assists managers to adapt their management approaches as climate and ocean conditions change.
Good Practice Learnings Across Regions and Knowledge Systems
First-hand experiences from Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific highlighted the diverse climate challenges facing MPAs. Participants from the Solomon Islands and the project’s two pilot MPAs, the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Banc d’Arguin National Park (Mauritania) and Ilulissat Icefjord (Greenland, Denmark), underscored the importance of combining science and data with Indigenous and local knowledge and ensuring that Indigenous Peoples and local communities are meaningfully involved throughout the entire climate vulnerability assessment process. These insights will inform the guidance, which will be piloted on the ground at the two MPAs.
Representatives from the Wadden Sea, a transboundary UNESCO World Heritage site shared by Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands, also shared lessons learned from undertaking a climate vulnerability assessment and ongoing efforts to integrate the findings into management plans and practical action.
Next Steps
Comprehensive draft guidance is expected to be circulated in February 2027 through MPA networks, including the network of MPA managers in the Mediterranean (MedPAN) and the Western Indian Ocean Marine Protected Areas Network (WIOMPAN), to gather feedback from the wider MPA community. This feedback will help ensure that the guidance is applicable in diverse environmental and socio-economic contexts.
The project is financed by the VELUX FOUNDATION and runs until December 2028.
