Global Marine Programme: Holistic approach to conservation
Isolated islands of protected areas cannot alone provide effective conservation of marine habitats. Neither can isolated instances of well-managed fisheries or ecotourism developments. A key element of WWF’s work is therefore the conservation of entire ecoregions.
Focal marine ecoregions
- Barents-Kara Seas
- Bering Sea
- Mediterranean Sea
- Grand Banks
- Northeast Atlantic
- Yellow Sea
- Patagonian Southwest Atlantic
- New Zealand Marine
- Gulf of California
- Galápagos Marine
- Canary Current
- Sulu-Sulawesi Seas
- Bismarck-Solomon Seas
- Great Barrier Reef
- Fiji Barrier Reef
- East African Marine
- West Indian Ocean Marine
- Mesoamerican Reef
- Greater Antillean Marine
- Western Australia Marine
- West Africa Marine
- West Madagascar Marine
Setting priorities
WWF has identified 238 ecoregions which are priorities for conservation because of their outstanding biological features. These so-called Global 200 Ecoregions include diverse terrestrial, freshwater, and marine areas.
WWF’s Global Marine Programme has identified around 20 of the marine Global 200 Ecoregions for special focus, where we particularly direct our conservation targets and milestones. These ecoregions feature diverse habitat types that range from polar ice caps to the deep sea to coral reefs to mangrove forests.
Our approach
Within each focal marine ecoregion, we promote a large-scale approach to conservation activities and try to harmonize the work of governments and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs). We also help bring governments together to cooperate on managing their shared marine resources.
Two key aspects of our ecoregion approach are:
- The establishment of well-managed, representative networks of Marine Protected Areas
- The sustainable management of fisheries and other marine resources through ecosystem-based management (see below for an EBM definition).
What is ecosystem-based management?
Ecosystem-based management (EBM) aims to achieve sustainable exploitation of natural resources by balancing the social and economic needs of human communities with the maintenance of healthy ecosystems.
EBM is a highly integrated, scientifically based approach that encompasses all the complexities of ecosystem dynamics, human dynamics, and the maintenance of diverse, functioning, and healthy ecosystems.Marine ecosystems are very complex, our knowledge of them is limited, and the ways in which our activities affect them is poorly understood. The EBM approach to managing marine resources accepts that decisions will often be made in a climate of uncertainty. However, uncertainty should never be an excuse for inaction. Management decisions are best made using multiple lines of evidence and a precautionary approach: "when in doubt, err on the side of conservation".
