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Combining scarce knowledge and participative process to implement the strictly protected areas 10% target in the Northwestern Mediterranean offshore areas
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DOI：10.3389/fmars.2026.1895474.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
Reversing biodiversity loss is one of the major challenges of the 21st century. Designating strictly protected areas (SPAs) is recognized as particularly effective for biodiversity conservation. “Strict” refers to a high level of protection (restriction of human activities) and a full implementation of the protection. The European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 established the target of placing 10% of marine areas under strict protection. To date; efforts to deploy SPAs have mainly focused on coastal areas; where the majority of human activities are concentrated. However; managers’ interest is gradually shifting to offshore areas to achieve the 10% objective. Nevertheless; the protection of offshore ecosystems brings new challenges in terms of scientific evidence on ecosystem functioning across the pelagic and deep-sea domains. In parallel; maritime spatial planning (MSP) has been developed with the aim of organizing activities in space and time in order to achieve ecological; social; and economic objectives through the sustainable management of marine areas. The objective of the present study was to explore how the MSP process can improve SPA network development; looking at its capacity to provide an overarching framework to unify and reconnect available knowledge from several sources: acknowledged ecological zonings; existing maritime spatial plans; information from stakeholders and public consultation; experts’ knowledge; and multiple data sources from oceanography and activities monitoring. The test site comprises the waters under French and Italian jurisdiction in the Northwestern Mediterranean encompassing deep-sea ecosystems (the whole marine ecosystem in areas with more than 200 m depth). The results propose for the first time the identification of a Franco-Italian scientifically grounded transnational SPA network that considers the existing policies and is dedicated to offshore conservation; including pelagic and deep-sea habitats; to achieve the 10% European biodiversity objective. It supports the hypothesis of the enabling role of MSP and suggests it relies on three components: framing the policy objective; gathering available scientific and technical information for the identification of important areas; and introducing political inputs (existing political decisions and results from public debates) in decision making.
Keywords:
participation
deep sea
marine protected areas
Maritime Spatial Planning
Northwestern Mediterranean
offshore areas
strict protection
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