Marine Protected Areas in a Changing Climate

Climate change is having a profound impact on ocean ecosystems. We are already seeing impacts such as increased ocean temperatures, sea level rise, altered weather patterns, changes in ocean currents, melting sea ice and the effects of ocean acidification. 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.  MPAs can also provide long term protection for habitats including salt marsh, seagrasses, mangroves, and kelp forests that act as "blue carbon" - ocean and coastal ecosystems and processes that draw down and store significant amounts of carbon.

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.

International Partnership

In 2021, the United States, United Kingdom, Chile, Costa Rica, and France announced a new global partnership to advance the role of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) as a nature-based solution in the fight against climate change. The announcement came ahead of the United Nations climate change (COP 26) and biodiversity (COP 15) conferences. The partnership participated in these international events and plans to continue to be a presence in such international meetings.

Resources from the MPA Center

• Advancing marine conservation through ecological connectivity: Building better connections for better protection (2021); published in Parks Stewardship Forum
• Ecological Connectivity for Marine Protected Areas (2020)
• Adapting to a changing ocean: Experiences from marine protected area managers (2020); published in Parks Stewardship Forum
• Marine Protected Areas: Building Resilience to Climate Change Impacts (2019)
• Sea Level Rise in East Coast Marine Protected Areas (2012)
• Climate Change Issue Profile: Rising Sea Surface Temperature (2012)

Resources from our Partners

Impacts

• Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2021)
• IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (Intergovernmental Pannel on Climate Change, 2019)
• Ocean deoxygenation: Everyone’s problem (IUCN, 2019)
• Fourth National Climate Assessment (US Global Change Research Program, 2018)
• Explaining Ocean Warming: Causes, Scale Effects and Consequences (IUCN, 2016)
• Climate Change Impacts on Coastal and Marine Ecosystems and the Potential Role of the National System of MPAs (Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee, 2010)

Assessment

• Rapid Vulnerability Assessment Tool (Commission for Environmental Cooperation, 2017)
  • English
  • French
  • Spanish

Adaptation

• Climate Adaptation Toolkit for Marine and Coastal Protected Areas (EcoAdapt online toolkit)
• Planning for a Changing Climate: Climate-Smart Planning and Management in the National Park Service (2021)
• Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD)—A Framework for the 21st-century Natural Resource Manager (National Park Service 2020)
• Marine Protected Areas and Climate Change (IUCN, 2016)
• National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Adaptation Strategy (2012)
• Coastal Adaptation Strategies Handbook (National Park Service, 2016)
• Coastal Adaptation Strategies:  Case Studies (National Park Service, 2015)
• Committee Recommendations on Climate Change in the Oceans (Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee, 2010)

MPA Networks

• Marine Connectivity Conservation 'Rules of Thumb' For MPA and MPA Network Design (IUCN, 2021)
• Guidelines for conserving connectivity through ecological networks and corridors (IUCN, 2020)
• Harnessing Ecological Spatial Connectivity for Effective Marine Protected Area Networks and Resilient Marine Ecosystems (MPA Federal Advisory Committee, 2017)
• Scientific Guidelines for Designing Resilient Marine Protected Area Networks in a Changing Climate (Commission for Environmental Cooperation, 2012)
• Guide for Planners and Managers to Design Resilient Marine Protected Area Networks in a Changing Climate (Commission for Environmental Cooperation, 2012)

Cultural Resources

• Cultural Resources Climate Change Strategies (National Park Service, 2016)
• Cultural Resources Impacts Table (National Park Service, 2016)

Climate Change Adaptation Training

The MPA Center partners with other MPA and coastal management programs to provide training on climate change adaptation.

Climate Change Websites

• NOAA Climate Data and Services
• NOAA Sentinel Site Program
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Climate Change Strategy
• Landscape Conservation Cooperatives
• National Park Service – Climate Change Response Program
• Office of National Marine Sanctuaries - Changing Climate and your National Marine Sanctuaries