PAME's workshop - "Understanding MPA Networks as Tools for Resilience in a Changing Arctic," took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from 2-3 February 2017. The workshop is one in a series for which the purpose is to support a PAME project studying best practices for linking area-based conservation measures to categories of Arctic marine biodiversity in support of the long-term conservation of the Arctic marine environment and associated services and cultural values.The workshop included:
- a continuation of the discussion from the 1st workshop (held in September 2016) on approaches for understanding and managing spatial variability of ecological connectivity affected by anticipated climate change, as well as how MPA networks can help build resilience to climate change;
- presentations and dialogue on what design elements are important to consider and include when developing MPA networks in a changing climate; and
- the development of additional guidance that will be used to expand and refine the “MPA Toolkit.”
Click here to download the workshop report.
Project Description
PAME’s Framework for a Pan-Arctic Marine Protected Areas Network document recognizes that individual Arctic countries pursue MPA development based on their own authorities and priorities, and that MPA networks can be comprised of "both MPAs and other area-based measures that contribute to network objectives”.
PAME’s “toolbox” project aims to develop guidance to assist countries in advancing MPA networks in the Arctic. The project will produce this guidance in the form of a catalogue of examples of diverse existing area-based measures, including different types of marine protected areas and of “other area-based conservation measures” that contribute to the long-term conservation of important categories of Arctic marine biodiversity (e.g. important species and habitats).
Over the course of the 2015-2017 work cycle, project leads hosted two workshops. While the first workshop focused on toolbox development by identifying and mapping types of connectivity in the Arctic, the second focused on connectivity and climate change. The toolbox is intended to be a living document that will be expanded and refined over time.
Workshop Objectives- Develop our understanding of ecological resilience and how MPA networks can help support it.
- Develop our understanding and principles to guide management of MPAs and MPA networks to enhance ecological resilience in a changing environment.
- Develop our understanding of key elements for designing MPA networks that support ecological resilience in a changing environment.
- Identify priorities for future scientific and/or other collaboration to apply knowledge and guidance to MPA network design.
- Identify potential next steps to advance understanding of how MPA network design and management can support ecological resilience to a changing environment.
| Name of presentation | Presenter | Download |
| Resilience – an introduction | Martin Sommerkorn (WWF Arctic Programme) | Download |
| Overview of Impacts of a Physical constrains of productivity in the Arctic Ocean: Changing Environment on the trajectories into the future? Biodiversity | Paul Wassmann (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway) | Download |
| MPAs and Networks as tools for resilience  | Dan Laffoley (IUCN) | Download |
| Ecological Connectivity and Resilience: Implication for Marine Protected Areas | Mark H. Carr (University of California, Santa Cruz) | Download |
| Resilience through an MPA Network: A Hawaii Case Study | Todd Stevenson (Circumpolar Conservation Union) | Download |
| PAME’s MPA network toolbox through a resilience lens | Martin Sommerkorn (WWF Arctic Programme) | Download |
| Valuable and vulnerable areas: the case of the Barents Sea | Cecilie H. von. Quillfeldt (Norwegian Polar Institute) | Download |
| Working Toward Resilient Marine Protected Area Networks In the US Arctic | Lauren Wenzel (National Marine Protected Areas Center) | Download |
| MPAs and MPA Networks for Resilience - Canadian Case Studies and Opportunities | Nadine Templeman (Fisheries and Oceans Canada) | Download |
| Designing network of MPA in the Russian Arctic to support ecosystem resilience. | Irina Onufrenya (WWF Russia) | Download |
| Resilience and Connectivity Values of MPAs: Planning for Top Trophic Marine Animal Conservation in the Barents Region and Beyond | Kit Kovacs (Norway) | Download |
| Guidelines for Designing MPA Networks to Promote Resilience of Arctic Marine Ecosystems in a Changing Climate | Lisa Speer (Natural Resource Defense Council) | Download |
| Building Resilient MPA Networks – Summary of Commission for Environmental Cooperation Reports | Dr. Ellen Kenchington (Canada Bedford Institute of Oceanography Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada) | Download |
| Ecosystem Resilience What is it and how can we measure it? |
Benjamin Planque (Institute of Marine Research - Norway) | Download |
| Modeling Tools for Designing for Resilience – Connectivity Under Changed Conditions | Patrick Halpin (Duke University) | Download |
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