Last week, MPA Europe partners got together at the European Environment Agency, in Copenhagen’s historical centre, for the project’s third annual meeting.

The morning of February 19 started with an overview of all the achievements during 2024 in the several work packages. All these materialized into 11 submitted deliverables, 8 published papers, 28 presentations in conferences, symposia, or theme days, one webinar and one online seminar. To engage stakeholders with MPA Europe’s results, two stakeholder workshops, one for Baltic Sea stakeholders and another for Black Sea stakeholders, were hosted, and the discussions and key topics were then summarised in the Baltic Sea and Black Sea stakeholder reports, respectively. Throughout 2024, MPA Europe partners also engaged in delivering six articles for children, five of which were compiled in the “Our Big Blue Home” book. We also provided 32 illustrations and infographics, two videos, one podcast, and one interview.

The morning continued with presentations of the latest results of mapping regions based on environmental variables (ecosystems) and species distributions (biogeographic) and modelling of oceanographic and climatic connectivity. Whilst species and habitat distribution data build up, maps and models of these distributions are improved and being validated in the Shiny app (http://shiny.obis.org/distmaps), becoming increasingly valuable for MPA network mapping and for stakeholders’ use. Throughout the afternoon, discussion focused on modelling organic carbon distribution and storage, and how prioritisation will be used to define an MPA network in European seas.

The second day started off with a workshop on climate velocity. How it affects the rates of species distributions, particularly sessile species, and how low climate velocity might define potential refugia that can be aligned with climate-smart MPA were two hot topics of discussion among partners. The morning ended with presenting stakeholder case studies already in action with WWF, EEA, and EMODnet, and proposed with a variety of other stakeholders. Planning of the MPA in MSP International Conference taking place in Bødo in July 2025 was the theme of the closing session. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to join this exciting conference – early bird registration is ending on April 3!

The meeting ended with a visit to the National Aquarium of Denmark, Den Blå Planet, housing thousands of fish and sea creatures in 53 tanks containing a total of 7 million litres of water.

As the project enters its third year, there is a sense of accomplishment among partners and eagerness to deliver resources of interest to maritime conservation and planning as well as for increasing ocean literacy.