NWPStaging

In the UK a variety of evidence projects have been undertaken to improve our understanding of the role of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) as Nature-based Solutions in the face of a changing climate. This has involved: (i) Understanding the role of marine biodiversity in supporting climate change adaptation and mitigation ; (ii) Quantifying the protection of blue carbon habitats within the existing MPA network ; (iii) Understanding how MPA protected features may be impacted by climate change; and (iv) Establishing the relative importance of areas of the English seabed for blue carbon . Understanding the role of marine biodiversity in supporting climate change adaptation and mitigation can help support management decisions. For example, habitats with a role in coastal protection could be managed in a way that ensures they retain those qualities and the condition which allows it to deliver this ecosystem service at optimal levels. Knowledge of where blue carbon habitats are protected within the existing MPA network could help inform place-based management decisions to ensure carbon stays locked up within these habitats and damage and degradation of these habitats no longer contribute to carbon emissions. Understanding how MPA protected features may be impacted by climate change, such as sea-level rise or ocean warming, could help identify where elevated levels of management are needed to ensure there is resilience to these stressors within ecosystems. Finally, establishing the relative importance of areas of the English seabed for blue carbon will help better understand where these carbon stores are located and inform management of MPAs and appropriate implementation of wider management approaches across the wider marine system. Our work focused on improving the understanding of the role of marine biodiversity in climate change mitigation and adaptation. The first step was to undertake a literature assessment to investigate the provision of two climate-related ecosystem services (carbon sequestration and coastal protection), by MPA protected features and developed statistics on the provision of these services by the MPA network within English inshore and offshore and Northern Irish offshore waters. The next step was to understand the extent to which blue carbon habitats are already protected within the existing UK MPA network. An essential element in the planning of Climate Smart MPAs is to understand the extent to which MPA protected features may be impacted by the effects of climate change. The JNCC project considered how MPA features may respond to four pressures associated with climate change: ocean acidification, ocean warming, marine heatwaves and sea-level rise.