Marinas Guardian is very excited by the unveiling of our partnership with Papua New Guinea’s Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (CEPA) announced in a government press release published today.
The primary focus of the collaboration is developing a number of MPAs, the initial locations of which have been identified, and which include a number of large offshore areas which will make a substantive contribution to Papua New Guinea’s efforts to achieve the 30x30 target set under the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Located within the Coral Triangle, Papua New Guinea (PNG) boasts the highest marine biodiversity richness of the Pacific Ocean. (1) Its extensive fringing and barrier reefs cover 14,535 km² and PNG waters are home to over 2,800 fish species. The country also lies on the West Pacific flyway used by many seabirds and many migratory cetaceans, turtles and tunas pass through PNG’s EEZ.
Marinas Guardian’s role will be to provide CEPA with technical expertise and work with CEPA to secure appropriate funding to expand and manage these MPAs. We will also work with local communities to raise awareness about the importance of marine conservation both to wildlife and ensuring livelihoods that are dependent on healthy marine ecosystems can be sustained into the future. Capacity building will be key to the success of the project.
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