Potencial designación de 30 nuevas áreas protegidas

Las organizaciones de la sociedad civil, científicas y las autoridades locales se unieron al debate durante el lanzamiento oficial del proyecto en Trípoli el pasado 16 de febrero. El nuevo proyecto, "Apoyo a la gestión y expansión de las áreas marinas protegidas en Libia", busca mejorar la protección de la biodiversidad marina potenciando una estructura nacional de gobernanza, además de la creación de nuevas unidades de gestión, el desarrollo de planes de gestión sostenible, la implementación programas de seguimiento y una mejor interconexión.

Recently the Libyan Ministry of Environment has announced a plan to designate thirty new protected areas - a list which includes wetlands, marine and coastal sites as well as biosphere reserves. This new project will support the implementation of several sites currently being considered for MPA designation.

The IUCN Green List Standard for Protected and Conserved Areas will provide the basis framework for the development of the governance and management structures for the targeted MPAs. 

A call for urgent action regarding certain candidate sites was raised by several Libyan civil society organisations at the launch event. In parallel to this meeting, the Government of Libya also approved two National Plans on Exotic Species and the Protection of Sea Turtles.

The IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation will lead the works to record the marine and coastal sites of key conservation interest, building on the knowledge of several sources, as for example, the 2012 publication “Towards a Representative Network of Marine Protected Areas in Libya”.

Moreover, IUCN will coordinate the monitoring efforts, while working with WWF North Africa to develop a participatory platform aiming to involve civil society organisations with particular emphasis on gender stakeholders.

With the aim of advancing MPAs in Libya towards a phase of operational sufficiency, the project will focus on building the capacity of MPA practitioners. Through the Protected Areas Green List programme, IUCN-Med will provide continuous support to the three targeted MPAs to improve the planning, management and governance components in order to reach tangible conservation outcomes.