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Relevant Publications
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Climate Warming, Marine Protected Areas and the Ocean-Scale Integrity of Coral Reef
Ecosystems
Citation: Graham N.A.J., McClanahan T.R., MacNeil M.A., Wilson S.K., Polunin N.V.C.,
et al. (2008). PLoS ONE 3(8): e3039. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003039
Although the ocean scale integrity of these coral reef ecosystems has been lost,
it is positive to see the effects are spatially variable at multiple scales, with
impacts and vulnerability affected by geography but not management regime. Existing
no-take marine protected areas still support high biomass of fish, however they
had no positive effect on the ecosystem response to large-scale disturbance. This
suggests a need for future conservation and management efforts to identify and protect
regional refugia, which should be integrated into existing management frameworks
and combined with policies to improve system-wide resilience to climate variation
and change.
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Establishing Resilient Marine Protected Area Networks - Making it Happen
Citation: IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (2008). Washington D.C.: IUCN-WCPA,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and The Nature Conservancy. 118
p.
This guide aims at promoting better understanding of the role of MPAs and MPA networks
at local and regional scales to achieve marine conservation. It utilizes current
scientific knowledge, institutional experience and global case studies to outline
the latest information pertaining to building resilient and functional MPA networks.
It also highlights global commitments for marine conservation and shows how to move
from individual MPA sites to an effective system of national and regional MPA networks.
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Marine Protected
Area Networks in the Coral Triangle: Development and Lessons
Citation: TNC (The Nature Conservancy), WWF (World Wildlife Fund), CI (Conservation
International) and WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) (2008). TNC, WWF, CI, WCS
and the United States Agency for International Development, Cebu City, Philippines.
106 p.
This book provides a comprehensive summary of the current status of six different
MPA networks and their complexities. It analyzes MPA networks through their various
stages of development including planning and design, implementation and evaluation
as they are emerging within and around the Coral Triangle.
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Marxan Good Practices
Handbook - External review version, 17th May 2008
Citation: Ardron, J.A., Possingham, H.P., and Klein, C.J. (eds) (2008). Pacific
Marine Analysis and Research Association, Vancouver, BC, Canada. 155 pages.
A handbook of best practices for the applied planning tool, Marxan, the development
of which was led by the Pacific Marine Analysis and R esearch Association (PacMARA)
who held two back-to-back workshops in Vancouver in April 2007. The handbook represents
the collective efforts of 25 authors and three editors and is now at the external
review stage with the aim of publishing a final version in 2009.
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National
and regional networks of marine protected areas: A review of progress
Citation: UNEP-WCMC (2008). UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge, 144p.
Jointly published by UNEP-WCMC and the UNEP Regional Seas Programme, this report
describes the progress being made towards ecologically representative networks of
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The report explores the diverse range of approaches
applied, at various scales, to demonstrate how MPA networks can be established in
practice, and how they can be adapted to different needs and priorities. This report
aims to promote a better understanding of the underlying principals and scientific
basis behind MPA network design, while disseminating experiences and lessons learned
from the initiatives underway at regional national and sub-national levels.
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Towards
networks of Marine Protected Areas: the MPA Plan of Action for IUCN's WCPA
Citation: Laffoley, D. d'A., (2008). IUCN WCPA, Gland, Switzerland, 28p.
This Plan of Action describes the added value that WCPA - Marine brings to the global
community working on MPAs. The report identifies the renewed need for urgent action
to protect our oceans and seas, the main themes WCPA-Marine works under, and the
global priorities that are needed to achieve this. This reports helps bridge the
gap between existing work on MPAs, and what is needed in order to put in place effective
and lasting networks of MPAs throughout the world.
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A Bioregional Classification of the Continental Shelf of Northeastern North America
for Conservation Analysis and Planning Based on Representation
Citation: Cook, R.R. & Auster, P.J. (2007). Marine Sanctuaries Conservation
Series NMSP-07-03. U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheris
Administration, National Marine Sanctuary Program, Silver Spring, MD. 14 p.
Understanding how well National Marine Sanctuaries and other marine protected areas
represent the diversity of species present within and among the biogeographic regions
where they occur is essential for assessing their conservation value and identifying
gaps in the protection of biological diversity. One of the first steps in any such
assessment should be the development of clearly defined and scientifically justified
planning boundaries representing distinct oceanographic conditions and faunal assemblages.
The report proposes a set of boundaries for the continental shelf of northeastern
North America defined by subdivisions of the Eastern Temperate Province, based on
a review and synthesis (i.e. meta-analysis) of the scientific literature.
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Conducting Marine Ecological Gap Assessments: A Quick Guide for Protected Areas
Practitioners
Citation: Corrigan, C., Ervin, J.,Kramer, P. & Ferdana, Z. (2007). The Nature
Conservancy, Arlington, VA. 21p.
This report provides a 'quick guide' for MPA practitioners on ecological gap assessments.
An ecological gap assessment is the basis for developing a clear vision of the scope
and future direction of the protected area system, and influences subsequent elements
of the master plan. Other steps in the master planning process include assessing
and improving protected area management effectiveness and capacity, threat abatement,
governance, benefits sharing, policies and sustainable finance. In essence, a gap
assessment indicates where and how the ecological design of a protected area network
can be strengthened.
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Establishing large-scale trans-boundaries MPA networks: the OSPAR example in North-East
Atlantic
OSPAR Commission (2007)
This case study provides an update of current progress towards the OSPAR MPA network.
Since this network is still at its early stages, the study focuses on the preliminary
steps taken in establishing the MPA network in relation to the identification and
selection of MPAs. The main challenges arising from the implementation of a coherent
large-scale trans-boundaries network of MPA and the main priority objectives to
define in order to achieve this.
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Marine Ecoregions
of the World: A Bioregionalization od Coastal and Shelf Areas
Citation: Spalding, M.D., Fox, H.E., Allen, G.R., Davidson, N., Ferdana, Z.A., Finlayson,
M., Halpern, B. S., Jorge, M.A., Lombana, A., Lourie, S.A., Martine, K.D., McManus,
E., Molnar, J. & Robertson, J. (2007). BioScience, vol. 57, no. 7, pp. 573-583.
The conservation and sustainable use of marine resources is a highlighted goal on
a growing number of national and international policy agendas. Unfortunately, efforts
to assess progress, as well as to strategically plan and prioritize new marine conservation
measures, have been hampered by the lack of a detailed, comprehensive biogeographic
system to classify the oceans. This paper reports on a new global system for coastal
and shelf areas: the Marine Ecoregions of the World, or MEOW, a nested system of
12 realms, 62 provinces, and 232 ecoregions.
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Priorities
for Coastal and Marine Conservation in South America
Citation: Chatwin, A. (eds) (2007). The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA. 63p.
This report presents an analysis of the marine ecoregions of South America. It examines
threats, current protection, and conservation priority areas in each ecoregion and
then provides a regional discussion of conservation targets and needs for each coastal
nation.
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Marine Reserves
for the Mediterranean Sea
Citation: Greenpeace (2006). Greenpeace International, Amsterdam, Netherlands. 58p.
This Greenpeace report sets out the argument for the urgent establishment of a network
of marine reserves across the Mediterranean Sea to safeguard its productivity, its
marine life and its ecosystems for the many millions of people who rely on it for
their health and wellbeing - now and in the future.
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Further Development
of Tool Kits for the Identification, Designation, Management, Monitoring, and Evaluation
of National and Regional Systems of Protected Areas
Citation: Convention of Biological Diversity (2005). First Meeting of the CBD Ad
Hoc Working Group on Protected Areas, Montecatini, Italy, 13-17 June 2005. UNEP/CBD/WG-PA/1/4.
Identification, designation, management and monitoring and evaluation of protected
areas involves complex, multi-layered tasks. A range of tools has been developed
to facilitate the implementation of these activities. The present note describes
118 of these tools, as well as their sources of information and their relevance
to the programme of work on protected areas. However, there are gaps in the coverage
of tool kit and proposals for addressing these gaps and possible partners for undertaking
the development of these toolkits are suggested in the note.
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Options for Cooperation for the Establishment of Marine Protected Areas in Marine
Areas Beyond the Limits of National Jurisdiction
Citation: Convention of Biological Diversity (2005). First Meeting of the CBD Ad
Hoc Working Group on Protected Areas, Montecatini, Italy, 13-17 June 2005. UNEP/CBD/WG-PA/1/2.
In order to assist the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group with its work on the issue
of establishing MPAs beyond national jurisdiction, the Executive Secretary commissioned
two background studies. These studies include a study of scientific information
on biodiversity in marine areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction (UNEP/CBD/WG-PA/INF/1)
and a study on legal aspects for the establishment of marine protected areas.in
marine areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction (UNEP/CBD/WG-PA/INF/2).
This document summarizes and highlights the major findings, conclusions and recommendations
of the two studies.
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Roadmap to Recovery
Citation: Roberts, M.R., Mason, L., Hawkins, J, P. (2005). Environment Department,
University of York. 57p.
This report presents a design for a global network of high seas marine reserves
using the computer program Marxan to help develop network designs. The design presented
in this report includes twenty-nine separate marine reserves that together encompass
40.8% of the area of the world's oceans.
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Marine Protected Areas & Zoning in a System of Marine Spatial Planning
Citation: Gubbay, S. (2005). WWF-UK, 14p.
A discussion paper for WWF-UK on how marine protected areas relate to zonation strategies
in marine spatial planning systems, how zonation may be applied to multiple-use
marine protected areas, and a discussion of activities and controls within marine
protected areas. Case studies are used to illustrate selected points.
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An inventory of GIS-based decision support tools for MPAs
Citation: Pattison, D., dosReis, D. & Smillie, H. (2004). Center and National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Protected Areas, Silver
Spring, Maryland. 16p.
This report focuses on GIS tools with the highest utility for MPA processes. Each
tool summary includes a description of what the tool does, the data and software
needed to run it, and contact information. In addition, several tools are highlighted
in greater detail, providing examples of how they have been used in MPA zoning and
monitoring activities.
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Lessons learned from recent marine protected area designations in the United States,
A report to the National Marine Protected Areas Center, NOAA
Citation: Bernstein, B., Iudicello, S. & Stringer, C. (2004). National Fisheries
Conservation Center, Ojai, California. 88p.
Final report to the National Marine Protected Areas Center of a study of six efforts
to designate marine protected areas in the U.S., with the goal of identifying lessons
learned, to improve ongoing and future planning processes. The report includes case
studies covering a range of governmental levels and geographic regions.
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Marine and Coastal Protected Areas: a guide for planners and managers, Third edition
Citation: Salm, R.V., Clrak, J. & Siirila, E. (2000). IUCN, Washington DC, xxi
+ 371p.
This book is addressed mainly to the conservation of the natural resources of tropical
coasts and seas. It is meant to complement modern texts covering policy aspects
of MPA selection and design by providing approaches and tools for everyday application
at field sites. The volume is arranged in three parts: Part 1) Introduction to Marine
Protected Areas as an important approach to managing marine and coastal resources;
Part 2) Principles and mechanisms for planning and managing protected areas in four
different environments; and Part 3) Case histories covering a wide variety of MPA
experience around the world.
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Toolkits
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BioRap Toolbox
- Rapid Assessment of Biodiversity
Developer: Dan Faith, The Australian Museum
The BioRap Toolbox is a Decision Support System that allows for the selection of
high-priority areas for conservation and sustainable management of natural resources.
Several modules within the system are required to analyze different data such as
climate surfaces, digital elevation models, bioclimateic data, and environmental
domains using abiotic data. Priority areas are determined through representivity
of biodiversity within a minimized required area, balanced against opportunity costs
and constraints.
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Marine Geospatial Ecology
Tools (MGET)
Developer: Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University
Marine Geospatial Ecology Tools (MGET) is an open source geoprocessing toolbox designed
for coastal and marine researchers and GIS analysts who work with spatially-explicit
ecological and oceanographic data in scientific or management workflows. MGET includes
over 150 tools, both live and in development, useful for a variety of tasks, such
as converting oceanographic data to ArcGIS formats, identifying fronts in sea surface
temperature images, analyzing coral reef connectivity by simulating hydrodynamic
larval dispersal, and building grids that summarize fishing effort, CPUE and other
statistics.
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Marine Integrated
Decision Analysis System (MIDAS)
Developer: Suchi Gopal, Boston University
MIDAS offers managers and other users of MMAs (marine managed areas) around the
world the capability to analyse outcomes that result from the interaction of governance,
socioeconomic and ecological factors. The users can input information relevent to
their MMAs and quickly visualise the outcomes, including a map of the spatial distribution
of risk.
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Marine Reserve and
Local Fisheries Interactive Simulation
Developer: Dan Brumbaugh, American Museum of Natural History
This simulation-based education tool allows users to experiment with the use of
marine reserves as tools in fisheries management and to explore various biological
and economic factors that influence population viability and fisheries sustainability.
It focuses on key Caribbean fisheries species, their habitat preferences, the distribution
of these habitats across the seascape, economic costs and proceeds from small-scale
fisheries, and simple models of fishing behaviour.
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Open OceanMap
Developer: Ecotrust
Open OceanMap is a data collection tool used to collect local expert knowledge in
support of marine spatial planning. Open OceanMap allows the user to collect and
compile ecological and economic data through an intuitive 100-pennies stakeholder
interview process . The tool provides interviewees with a web-based interface to
review and verify information and aggregates data to ensure confidentiality.
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R2 Reef Resilience
Toolkit
Developer: The Nature Conservancy
The Reef Resilience (R2) Toolkit is a product developed for coral reef managers
providing guidance on building resilience to climate change into the design of MPAs,
as well as on daily management activities. Guidance provided ranges from conserving
fish spawning aggregations, to MPA network design, to developing coral reef monitoring
programs.
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Applied Planning Tools
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Connie - Australian
Connectivity Interface
Developer: Scott Condie, CSIRO
The Australian Connectivity Interface or "ConnIe" has been developed as a tool for
environmental scientists and managers to investigate the large-scale patterns of
marine spatial connectivity around Australia. Specifically, it provides the user
with an estimate of the probability that any two regions are connected by modelled
ocean circulation over a specified dispersion period. It has been applied in areas
such as larval dispersion and recruitment studies, and the development of scenarios
and risk assessments for contaminant dispersion. A finer_scale version of ConnIe
has also been developed for Australia's North West Shelf region.
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ConsNet
- Advanced software for systematic conservation planning
Developer: Michael Ciarleglio, University of Texas
ConsNet is a comprehensive software package for the design and analysis of conservation
area networks (CANs) to represent biodiversity. Outcomes are based upon the expected
presence or abundance of appropriate biodiversity surrogates within an area (or
'cell'), the potential costs (or benefits) of implementing a conservation plan within
the cell, and the spatial properties of the cell. A conservation area network is
assembled as a collection of cells which best meets the goals of the planner.
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C-Plan
Developer: Matthew Watts & Bob Pressey, New South Wales Department of Environment
and Climate Change (NSW DEC)
C-Plan maps options for achieving an explicit conservation goal in a region, allows
users to decide which sites (areas of land or water) should be placed under some
form of conservation management, accepts and displays these decisions, and then
lays out the new pattern of options that results. The system displays information,
in tables, maps or diagrams that can be used to guide decisions. C-Plan also calculates
and displays the irreplaceability of each site in a region as a guide to their importance
for the regional conservation goal.
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CTAM - Coastal Transects Analysis
Model
Developer: Coastal Development Center, Thailand
CTAM is a simple visualization and decision-support tool that helps coastal managers,
policy makers, coastal communities and other stakeholders in addressing multiple
present and future demands in coastal areas. CTAM describes and analyzes, in a simplified
fashion, the complex interactions between natural and human systems. The current
emphasis of the tool is on the interaction between fishing and other coastal activities
on fisheries and aquatic ecosystems. CTAM is user-friendly with interactive features
and attractive visualization and is freely available on-line for all Internet users.
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EwE - Ecopath with Ecosim
Developer: Villy Christensen, University of British Columbia
Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) is a free ecological/ecosystem modeling software suite.
EwE has three main components: Ecopath - a static, mass-balanced snapshot of the
system; Ecosim - a time dynamic simulation module for policy exploration; and Ecospace
- a spatial and temporal dynamic module primarily designed for exploring impact
and placement of protected areas. The Ecopath Software package can be used to: address
ecological questions; evaluate ecosystem effects of fishing; explore management
policy option; analyse impact and placement of marine protected areas; predict movement
and accumulationof contaminants and tracers; and model the effect of environmental
changes.
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HPP - Habitat Priority Planner
NOAA Coastal Services Center
Habitat Priority Planner is a GIS-based tool designed to help coastal officials
make and prioritize decisions about habitat restoration and conservation. Using
widely available data, officials can generate pertinent reports, maps, and data
tables, as well as evaluate and compare different land use scenarios. This software
provides a method of obtaining critical habitat analysis that is consistent, repeatable,
and transparent. HPP can inventory habitats, assess land and water habitat conditions,
identify and rank potential restoration and conservation sites, and analyze "what
if" scenarios for proposed changes in land use or land cover.
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LINK
Developer: United States Geological Survey
LINK is a set of Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) ArcGIS tools designed
to analyze habitat patterns across a landscape. LINK is the latest product from
a series of Decision Support Systems (DSS) that uses species habitat matrices to
model potential species habitat and habitat diversity. LINK uses raster data sources
allowing habitat modelling over a much larger area than its vector based ancestors.
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LQGraph
Developer: United States Geological Survey
LQGraph implements methods for optimizing the connectivity of sites administered
to protect biodiversity (a conservation area network). The methods are suitable
for existing protected areas (for example, national parks) or a proposed network.
The purpose of the program is to select connectivity areas to link the protected
areas. The connectivity areas can serve as corridors for species that migrate seasonally
or as escape routes in the event that some of the protected areas are destroyed.
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MarineMap - Marine Protected
Areas Decision Support Tool
Developer: Will McClintock, Marine Science Institute, University of California
MarineMap (previously named Doris) is a web-based application used for designing
marine protected areas (MPAs). Users with a password may view marine geospatial
data layers, draw prospective MPAs, share these MPAs with other users (or keep them
private), and assemble MPAs into arrays. Users may generate reports on the resources
captured within individual MPAs or packages relative to the amount of those resources
represented in the entire study region, estimate economic impacts of prospective
MPAs, and discuss MPA designs in a place-based discussion form.
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Marxan
Developer: Hugh Possingham, University of Queensland
Marxan is the most widely used conservation planning tool in the world. Designed
to help inform the selection of new conservation areas for minimal cost, and to
facilitate the exploration of trade-offs between conservation and socio-economic
objectives. Marxan can help set priorities for conservation action by highlighting
those places that are likely to be important inclusions in an efficient reserve
network, ans can also be employed as a tool for evaluating how well existing reserve
networks achieve the goals of representativeness and comprehensiveness. The software
has contributed to several major conservation projects including the reasoning of
the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in Australia.
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PAT - Protected Area Tools
Developer: The Nature Conservancy Mesoamerica and Caribbean Science Program
The Protected Area Tools (PAT) is designed for identifying the most valuable remaining
core habitat, areas which cover a comprehensive representation of biodiversity,
and areas of highest ecological return for the amount of funds spent. PAT has been
designed as a systematic, logical, and repeatable toolkit that helps planners evaluate
activities or events that may be threatening habitat health, identify a comprehensive
representation of biodiversity for protection, and configure an optimal portfolio
solution for meeting habitat conservation goals. PAT consists of three conservation
modules which operate within ArcGIS 9.2 software: Environmental Risk Surface (ERS);
Relative Biodiversity Index (RBI); and MARXAN.
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Resnet
and Surrogacy
Developer: University of Texas
Surrogates must be selected which will represent whatever it is that is the target
of conservation (species, vegetation types, ecosystem types, or other features).
The Surrogacy tool can be used here to evaluate the efficiency of a given estimator
surrogate for a true surrogate. The ResNet tool uses these surrogates to emphasize
the selection of places containing rare surrogates (rarity) and places which add
as many under-represented surrogates as possible to a set of selected places (complementarity).
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Zonation
Developer: Dr Atte Moilanen, Metapopulation Research Group, University of Helsinki
Zonation is a framework for large-scale conservation planning. It identifies areas,
or landscapes, that are important for retaining habitat quality and connectivity
for multiple species, implicitly aiming at long term persistence of species. Zonation
can be used for various purposes such as the identification of near-optimal reserve
networks, identification of expansions for reserve networks, assessment of proposed
reserve networks and priority ranking for conservation decision support.
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Web Resources
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EBM Tools Network Website and Database
The EBM Tools Network is a voluntary, international alliance to promote the awareness,
development, and effective use of tools and methods for EBM of coastal and marine
environments and their watersheds.
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Google Earth
Link to download the latest version of Google Earth which now includes ocean floor
and surface data from marine experts. This application can be used to freely view
data downloaded in KML format or to view data layers developed in ArcGIS in a global
context with data from other sources.
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MPA News
MPA News provides an information service on planning and management of marine protected
areas (MPAs). MPA News serves the global MPA community with news, views, analysis,
and tips gathered from experts around the world. MPA News is published by Marine
Affairs Research and Education (MARE), a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, in
association with the University of Washington School of Marine Affairs, Seattle,
Washington, USA.
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Networkweaving.com
Networkweaving.com focuses on the fact that many of the insights we get when we
reflect on our conservation actions have to do with relationships - who shares information
with whom and which individuals work together. Network maps enable the tracking
of these relationships and then work to improve information flow, innovation diffusion,
and collaborative activities by improving the connectivity of individuals in the
conservation network.
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NOAA – National
MPA Center (U.S.)
The National Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Center's mission is to facilitate the
effective use of science, technology, training, and information in the planning,
management, and evaluation of the United States national system of marine protected
areas. The National MPA Center works in partnership with federal, state, tribal,
and local governments, tribes, and stakeholders to develop a science-based, comprehensive
national system of MPAs.
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Protect Planet Ocean
Comprehensive and interactive website concerning all aspects of Marine Protected
Areas. Pages include lessons learned from marine protected area planning, latest
news stories about MPAs including information on conservation plans, a 'commitment
tracker' with data on how well different countries are meeting their marine conservation
targets, and reports, blogs and media-links from MPA practitioners in the field.
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WCPA-Marine
As part of the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), WCPA-Marine works in
partnership with IUCN's Global Programme on Protected Areas and IUCN's Global Marine
Programme to provide the world's premier network of Marine Protected Area (MPA)
expertise. WCPA-Marine's mission is to promote the establishment of a global, representative
system of effectively managed and lasting networks of MPAs.
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