Climate Change Impacts
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MPAs in a Changing Climate
Climate change is having a profound impact on the functioning of ocean ecosystems. Expected impacts, some of which are already being realized, include increased ocean temperatures, sea level rise, altered weather patterns, changes in ocean currents, melting sea ice, and the effects of ocean acidification. In addition, these impacts will be felt by ecosystems already affected by existing stressors on the marine environment such as overfishing, habitat loss and land-based sources of pollution. In light of these impacts, MPAs are being increasingly recognized as a key tool for maintaining and restoring ecosystem resilience in a changing climate.
The MPA Center is working with other climate and MPA programs to provide information, tools and capacity building to address climate change impacts in the ocean through an ecosystem-based, adaptive approach.
MPA Center Products
Building and Strengthening Linkages between the National System of Marine Protected Areas and the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS®) (October 2011)
Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee recommendations (April 2010): Climate Change in the Oceans
Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee, Science and Technology Subcommittee Primer on MPAs and Climate Change (April 2010)
Training (Feb 2010): Adapting to Climate Change: Training for Marine and Coastal Resource Managers
Current – A Journal for Marine Educators, Special issue on MPA Networks (2010), including article on “New Stresses, New Strategies: Managing Marine Protected Areas in an Age of Global Environmental Change” by Daniel Gleason
MPA Center Activities
North American MPA Network – Identifying Priority Conservation Areas in Light of Climate Change
The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has formed a Study Group on Designing Marine Protected Area Networks in a Changing Climate (SGMPAN). At the invitation of ICES and the North American MPA Network , scientific experts from Canada, Mexico, and the United States met from November 15-19, 2010 in Woods Hole, MA to synthesize information on the traits that increase the ability of populations, habitats and ecosystems along the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and the Atlantic coast of North America to adapt to a changing climate. The draft report is available here.
MPA/Integrated Ocean Observing System Task Team
Following up on MPA Federal Advisory Committee recommendations (December 2008) on linking ocean observing systems with the National System of Marine Protected Areas, the MPA Center created the MPA/IOOS® Task Team to explore ways to use MPAs as platforms for monitoring climate change impacts. The MPA/IOOS Task Team held an expert workshop in Monterey, CA in August 2010 to obtain information and recommendations on how MPAs can be used as platforms for ocean monitoring, to better understand the range of observing and monitoring requirements of MPAs, and to obtain knowledge on ocean monitoring parameters and processes most important to monitoring environmental changes at the national scale. The Task Team report is available here
Climate Change Adaptation Training
The MPA Center partners with other MPA and coastal management programs to provide training on climate change adaptation.
Links
National Estuarine Research Reserves – Climate Training Resources
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Climate Change Strategy
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Landscape Conservation Cooperatives
National Park Service – Climate Change Response Program
Office of National Marine Sanctuaries - Climate Change Work
NOAA Climate Services
For More Information, contact
mpainfo@noaa.gov
