The MPAinMSP International Conference, hosted by MPA Europe from 9 to 12 July 2025 in Bodø, Norway was a success! It provided a vibrant platform for knowledge exchange on marine biodiversity, organic carbon preservation, climate change adaptation, and MSP integration. You can watch the conference wrap up video here.

Bringing together over 180 participants from 23 different countries—from scientists and planners to policymakers and NGOs—the conference featured 50 oral presentations and 8 keynote talks (that you can access in full here), and 39 poster presentations. Talks and posters focused on the establishment, trade-offs, and successes of marine protected areas (MPAs) and MPA networks in European seas and beyond, as well as on ocean stewardship and fisheries control. The full MPAinMSP programme can be found here, the book of abstracts can be accessed here, and the conference statement can be signed here. The organisers earnestly hope that this conference will serve as the inaugural event in a long-standing series for the years ahead.

A key feature of this international conference were the five dedicated stakeholder panels. Hosted by a total of 18 panellists these sessions became inclusive forums for discussion and exchange about funding, governance, stakeholder engagement, transboundary issues, network design, and climate change considerations. Under MPA Europe’s vision—supported by Horizon Europe funding—MPA-MSP events like this help to strengthen the scientific foundation for designating optimal, coherent networks of MPA that serve biodiversity and climate goals across European seas.

Insights from this event are expected to inform peer-reviewed publications, EU policy, transboundary MPA planning, outputs from stakeholder engagement, and regional case study development, all culminating in enhanced MSP across European seas.

In line with this, all contributors to the MPAinMSP conference are invited to submit a paper to this special issue of Frontiers of Biogeography, which will publish the conference proceedings. All kinds of papers —reviews, perspectives, and analytical papers— submitted until 1 November 2025 will be considered and MPA Europe will cover the Article Processing Charges (APC) for the first ten papers accepted for publication.

To know more about MPA in MSP keep following our website, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Bluesky.