On July 17th, 2024, from 2:00 to 3:00 CEST, we will host the Atlantic & Arctic Weekly Hour featuring the BLUE4ALL project. As EU Member States aim to legally protect 30% of Europe’s sea and land areas, BLUE4ALL proposes a new approach to Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), aligning a bottom-up approach with the top-down approach to regulatory expectations as defined by the EU Biodiversity Strategy and national initiatives.
BLUE4ALL – Blueprint demonstration for co-created effective, efficient and resilient networks of MPAs
Institute of Natural Sciences – Brussels
Steven Degraer started his scientific career in benthic ecology of intertidal and shallow subtidal temperate marine ecosystems at Ghent University. After his PhD research (Ghent University, 1999), he started broadening his research: from temperate to tropical ecosystems, from sandy to rocky coasts, from benthos to avifauna and from fundamental to applied research. Marine management, focusing on nature conservation and sustainable use and exploitation of the marine resources, has always been the red line through his work. Since 2008, he is coordinating the Marine Ecology and Management (MARECO) team of the Institute of Natural Sciences, with a broad expertise on marine mammals and seabirds, rocky shore fauna and invasive species, and underwater noise, embedded in an ecosystem management context.
We present the goals and first results of the BLUE4ALL project, a HORIZON Europe Ocean Mission project working towards addressing marine conservation and restoration challenges in Europe. Using a new approach to Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that aligns with EU Biodiversity Strategy and national initiatives, BLUE4ALL places stakeholders at the center of the MPA process, ensuring their needs and concerns are addressed from the outset. BLUE4ALL works with stakeholders from 25 information sites and Living labs in the Mediterranean Sea, Baltic Sea and North-East Atlantic regions to collate and develop tools for preserving and restoring the marine environment in a socially sustainable and acceptable way. From 2025, these socio-economic, ecological and financial tools will be tested in Living labs, and ultimately result in a user-friendly Blueprint Platform for creating effective, efficient, and resilient MPAs and networks of MPAs.
Turning off the DRIP (‘Data-rich, information-poor’) – rationalising monitoring with a focus on marine renewable energy developments and the benthos (Wilding et al., 2017)