On the symposium ‘The North Sea, a field lab for marine protection’ experts in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) can share their experiences on the use of scientific knowledge to designate, manage and monitor these speciale areas of conservation (with focus to the North Sea).

According to the EU Biodiversity Action Plan, member states have to designate a network of Special Areas of Conservation at sea. The designation, management and monitoring of MPAs should be based on the best available scientific knowledge, but where are we now anno 2010?

For the Belgian Part of the North Sea scientists have been cooperating in the WESTBANKS project to evaluate the use of scientific data in the policy process leading up to the designation, management and monitoring of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

As many countries are involved in the planning of MPAs in the North Sea, the symposium ‘The North Sea, a field lab for marine protection’ will focus on the North Sea as a model system to investigate the use of scientific data in MPA planning. The process is evaluated from a European perspective and gaps in data collection and translation to policy are identified. The focus is on the science-policy nexus and, therefore, the audience consists of scientists, policy makers, conservationists as well as decision makers.

DATE: 22 March 2011

PLACE:
Auditorium Zeger Van Hee, College De Valk
Tiensestraat 41
B-3000 Leuven
Belgium

More information on the conference website.