The METEOR stood alongside other emblematic ships, including the cutting-edge OceanXplorer and the Santa Maria Manuela, a historic four-masted schooner from Portugal.
The session kicked off with a warm welcome by Angela Schultz-Zehden, who introduced the SUBMARINER Network, its portfolio of solutions, roadmaps, and long-term initiatives—highlighting the MPA-CN as a key community driving Mission Ocean contributions.
Next, Mariana Mata Lara presented the MPA Community Network, outlining its components and ambition to become a one-stop shop for marine protection solutions and tools. She emphasized the strong collaboration among EU-funded projects through joint activities and mutual support.
“MPA Community Network, the one-stop shop for finding tools and blueprints for MPA managers”
To close the introductory session, Maëlla Sicard from OFB, and partner in the Blue4All project, made a nice link between France, the hosting country of UNOC 2025, the MPA Community Network and its founding member Blue4All, while giving a user view as being one of the Living Labs the project works with.
Following the introductions, the workshop moved into game mode! Around 30 participants were divided into three groups and challenged to design an MPA corridor based on diverse ecological and stakeholder data. Each team worked with a printed map and was supported by MPA-CN facilitators:
- Sophie Jensen (BioProtect)
- Deborah Gutierrez (MSP4BIO)
- Jannica Haldin (Protect Baltic)
- Mariana Mata Lara (Blue Connect)
- Maëlla Sicard (Blue4All)
Inspired by the mechanics of the game Clue, teams received 20 different data cards—ranging from biodiversity assessments to calls to protest by discontent stakehodlers—and had to collaboratively analyse trade-offs, ecological priorities, and human pressures to propose protected areas.
The discussions were very interesting, all participants were so proactive and to our surprise, the three designs were completely different! While some focused on the ecological value, other decided to protect the most vulnerable areas, and some other to create corridors that would connect different spots. People loved it and despite having been a 1 hour long game, the audience said they would it to be even longer!
Feedback was overwhelmingly positive—with many participants saying they wished the game lasted longer than one hour! Several even asked for a copy of the tool to use in their own work and training.
We’re thrilled by the enthusiasm and proud to see the MPA-CN tools resonating with our audience. Another star for SUBMARINER’s MPA Community Network!
