Proceedings 2013/025

Proceedings of the National Peer Review on Guidance on "Representative" Marine Protected Areas for Network Planning; October 2, 2012

Chairperson: Eddy Kennedy
Editor: Sherry Walker

Summary

Canada has both domestic and international commitments to establish a national network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).  Towards this goal, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is working with federal, provincial and territorial partners to design and establish the Canadian network of MPAs in accordance with Decision IX/20 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (UNEP 2008).  One of the required network properties and components identified in Annex II of the CBD decision is representativity.  Representativity, as defined in COP IX/20, is captured in a network when it consists of areas representing the different biogeographical subdivisions of the global oceans and regional seas that reasonably reflect the full range of ecosystems, including the biotic and habitat diversity of those marine ecosystems. Past Science advice has laid much of the foundation for how Canada can proceed to establish its representative network of MPAs as well as providing general guidance on the necessary properties of networks of marine protected areas, including representative areas (DFO 2004, 2009, 2010, and 2011).  However, this past advice did not provide a framework to ensure consistency across bioregions in the selection of scale (i.e., level of subdivision) at which representativity must be achieved within the network, nor regarding how an area would be considered to be representative or what ecological functions are to be served by representative areas.  The objective of this national peer review process was to develop a nationally consistent interpretation of representativity in the context of Canada’s network of MPAs and to provide guidance on: 1) the ecological functions that are to be served by representative areas within an MPA, as well as the required properties to ensure those functions are sustained; and 2) the appropriate factors to consider in selecting the scale (level of subdivision) to produce the biogeographical units that need to be represented in the network.  This process, which was held October 2, 2012 in Montreal, Quebec, included participants from DFO Ecosystems and Oceans Science, Oceans Program Policy, Parks Canada, Environment Canada, provincial and territories experts, and academia.  Publications resulting from this process include a Science Advisory Report, a Research Document, and these proceedings.

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