Arctic Marine Conservation Dialogue 2021

To continue the successful exchange on various aspects of Arctic marine conservation in November 2020, twenty international experts from research and policy came together again in a virtual meeting for the "Arctic Marine Conservation Dialogue" on 17 and 18 November 2021.

This time the focus was on the potentials for and the challenges of sustainable marine economic development and the perspectives on ecosystem-based management in the Arctic. The keynote presentation was given by Laura Wenzel (Director of the National Marine Protected Areas Center NOAA) on building adaptive, inclusive Arctic networks of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). She emphasized the importance of achieving marine protected area conservation targets in this area and the connectivity of Arctic marine ecosystems, that need to be taken into account to ensure meaningful protection. The potential role of other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) was also addressed. In the following exchange, participants discussed the benefits and challenges of OECMs, potential conservation tools for marine protected areas and ongoing policy discussions on the national, regional and international level. This included the debate around the Convention on Biological Diversity concerning the Ecologically and Biologically Significant Marine Areas, exchanges under the Arctic Council and the OSPAR Convention, international fora for ocean topics, the potential of the negotiations on a new high seas agreement and the process under the Arctic Fisheries Agreement.

Ecologic Institute organized the event together with its partners, the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), the World Wide Fund For Nature Germany (WWF) and the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.