“The Mediterranean Sea is one of the areas in the world where the rise in water temperature is accelerating the most and where heat waves are becoming more intense and frequent”, explains Elena Ojea, professor and researcher and head of the Future Oceans Lab at the Marine Research Center of the University of Vigo, which together with 14 other institutions from eight European countries, participates in the Interreg Mediterranean project Engaging Mediterranean key actors in Ecosystem Approach to manage Marine Protected Areas to face Climate change” (MPA-Engage). With a budget of three million euros, the European project, coordinated by the Institut de Ciències del Mar of the Spanish Research Council (CSIC), aims to support and promote the role of protected marine areas in adapting and mitigating the impacts of climate change, designing a series of adaptation plans for protected marine areas in the Mediterranean, which will serve to decisively face the important impacts that are occurring in this region.
The two-year project, which is a continuation of MPA-Adapt, which ended in 2019, focuses on seven marine protected areas (MPAs): Brijuni (Croatia), Portofino (Italy), Calanques (France), Zakynthos (Greece), Karaburuni (Albania), Cap de Creus (Spain) and Tavolara Punta Coda Cavallo (Italy). “MPAs are important for preserving and improving socio-ecological resilience, however, there is a lack of specific adaptation plans in most of them, despite the general agreement that these areas play a key role in adapting to climate change, and this project will help address the impacts of climate change and create specific adaptation plans,” says the researcher from the UVigo CIM. Along with the scientists from Future Oceans Lab, the participation of the University of Vigo in this project is completed by the professor and researcher from the Department of Public Law Laura Movilla, “who has a lot of experience in climate change and marine conservation agreements,” adds Ojea.
MPA-Engage is led by researcher Joaquim Garrabou from the Institut de Ciències del Mar and involves, in addition to the University of Vigo, the Department of Territory and Sustainability of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the government of the Liguria region, research institutions (Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Politécnico Universidad de Marche), the management bodies of the seven marine protected areas (Catalonia, France, Italy, Croatia, Albania and Greece), as well as non-governmental organizations: MIO-ECDSE and the Diving Alert Network Foundation.
The Vigo contribution to the project
In addition to improving knowledge of marine ecosystems and their interrelationships with human activities to address the impact of climate change, the MPA-Engage project will develop vulnerability assessments and define adaptation plans in protected areas and in the recreational and small-scale fishing sectors, in addition to improving the effectiveness of these areas as nature-based solutions to adapt and mitigate climate change. For its part, and with a grant of 100,000 euros, researchers from the University of Vigo will focus “on the design and implementation of socio-ecological analyses of vulnerability to climate change. On the one hand, we will see how climate change affects protected ecosystems, and on the other, the vulnerability of activities and populations of people who depend on protected areas such as artisanal fishing or sustainable tourism”, details the UVigo researcher.
MPA-Engage links with the lines of research developed by Future Oceans Lab and which leads them to use their scientific knowledge and experience to facilitate adaptation to specific protected areas, where they will work hand in hand with managers. “This involves continuing our research, but delving deeper into the practical implications, towards marine management”, explains Elena Ojea, who hopes that “the project will have an impact on important marine decision-making and management and that adaptation plans will be developed that help mitigate the impacts of climate change in the Mediterranean”.
A actividade investigadora do Future Oceans Lab e as actividades de difusión do grupo contan co apoio da Xunta de Galicia e a Unión Europea, a través do seu cofinanciamento ao abeiro do Programa Operativo FEDER/FSE Galicia 2014-2020.
Source: DUVI
