One year down and four to go for ambitious EU project PROTECT BALTIC

The work package (WP5 Coherence) led by researcher Charlotte Berkström at the Department of Aquatic Resources at SLU focuses on enhancing the Marine Protected Area (MPA) network in the Baltic Sea and providing information on where the network can be expanded to protect biodiversity in the most efficient way possible.

– An MPA network should be ecologically coherent, which means that the MPAs should be of appropriate size and location to maintain ecosystem functions and services, and that species and habitats are protected in a representative way, says Charlotte.

– It also refers to the spatial configuration of the MPA network and the potential for organisms to move within the MPA network to maintain connectivity, Charlotte concludes.

Sweden, like all EU countries, has committed to the protection of 30% of its sea area by the year 2030 as part of the EU biodiversity strategy and the global “30 by 30” agreement within the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.One third of these MPAs are to be strictly protected, meaning no extractive uses such as fisheries will be allowed. Following this commitment, SLU together with the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management, will make sure Sweden contributes as much as possible to this process and facilitates collaboration across borders within the Baltic Sea.