On August 31, the High Seas Alliance and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) held a PrepCom side event where leading scientists presented the latest developments in ocean mapping and marine spatial planning technologies, and how these tools can be used by policy makers.Mapping is an important element of marine spatial planning and the establishment of scientifically based networks of marine protected areas (MPAs) in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) and the data made available can help States and competent organizations implement policies and future management measures taken with respect to area based management tools (ABMTs) and MPAs under the new Instrument. These technologies an assist in (i) monitoring large and remote MPAs (ii) identify gaps in governance of ABNJ and (iii) highlight opportunities for data sharing that require strong coordination among sectoral organizations.
Lisa Speer, Director of NRDC’s International Ocean Programme, moderated the event, and panelists included Dr. Lance Morgan, President of Marine Conservation Institute, Graham Stickler, Vice President at ExactEarth, Dr. Vardis Tsontos and Dr. Jorge Vazquez, scientists at
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, and Dr. Patrick Halpin, Professor of Marine Geospatial Ecology and Director of the Geospatial Analysis Program at the Duke University Marine Lab.
Additional information can be found in their presentations which are available here:
Cover photo by High Seas Alliance