During the UN Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona, Spain from 10-12 April 2024, a unique approach to tackling the complex challenges of marine protection was unveiled – a role-playing game where participants stepped into the shoes of various stakeholders to grapple with real-world dilemmas affecting the management of marine protected areas (MPAs).
Our colleague Kemal Pınarbaşı, leading the MSP4BIO’s policy coherence analysis work as well as being the test site leader in the project for the Baltic Sea, explain in detail at the origins and impact of this initiative.
Read the full interview with Kemal on the Protect Baltic website!
The role-playing game was held during the UN Ocean Decade conference by MSP4BIO, Blue4All and ULTFARMS.
MSP4BIO stands for Improved Science-based Maritime Spatial Planning to Safeguard and Restore Biodiversity in a coherent European MPA network. The project has the overall aim of mainstreaming biodiversity into policy decisions on different governance levels and developing integrated socio-ecological management for marine ecosystems.
Blue4All, under Mission Ocean, works with 25 living labs and information sites across the Mediterranean Sea, Baltic Sea, and North-East Atlantic regions. Its objective is to develop tools for preserving and restoring the marine environment in a socially sustainable and acceptable manner. The project aims to align the diverse needs and expectations of MPA managers with the overarching goals of marine conservation and regulatory expectations.
ULTFARMS is also a Mission Ocean project that is set to transform the future of low-trophic aquaculture (LTA) systems by generating a profitable, sustainable, and ecological product chain of low-trophic level species, such as seaweed and molluscs, in offshore windfarms located in the Baltic Sea and North Sea.