EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Chapter 8: The Marine Environment An expert advisory group was established in late 2019 by the government to produce a report containing advice and recommendations that will support the expansion of Ireland’s network of Marine Protected Areas. The ongoing work of the MPA Process Advisory Group is an initial component that is intended to focus and facilitate implementation of national obligations around area- based protection under the National Biodiversity Action Plan 2017-2021, in addition to the MSFD and Ireland’s responsibilities under the OSPAR Convention. Protection of the network of MPAs in Ireland should consider, among other things, the connectivity, representativity and replication of areas to allow for the coordinated support of systems (Rees et al. , 2015). The protection of marine communities in areas beyond the national jurisdiction is currently being considered by the United Nations. This includes an area of 230 million square kilometres, or about 45 per cent of the surface of the planet. This ongoing process will consider recommendations to develop an international legally binding instrument or treaty under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdictions. Figure 8.9  Map of Ireland’s marine SPAs and SACs. The blue line indicates Ireland’s maritime area which encompasses the MSFD assessment area 215