MPA LIFE Ireland

MPA LIFE Ireland is a 9-year partnership between the Department of Climate Energy and the Environment, University College Dublin, University College Cork and the University of Galway funded by the European Union’s LIFE programme. The project is aimed at significantly expanding Ireland’s network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to reach a target of 30% coverage of the maritime area by 2030. 

Its core goal is to make a major contribution to protecting, conserving and enabling the recovery of Ireland’s marine ecosystems, thereby supporting the achievement of Good Environmental Status in our marine environment. Operationally, the project will examine and develop area-based conservation measures for a wide range of vulnerable species, habitats, and other sensitive features that need protection based on current knowledge and scientific evidence. 

These measures in the form of MPAs, along with their conservation objectives and management plans, will be developed and delivered with the active engagement and participation of stakeholders and citizens. This will ensure a robust and meaningful process for the designation and management of MPAs in Ireland. 

The University of Galway team extends across two faculties. The economics team is led by Prof Stephen Hynes in the Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit (SEMRU) in the J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics while the ecology team is led by Prof Louise Allcock and Prof Mark Johnson in the School of Natural Sciences  

As part of the project SEMRU is developing models and indicators to assess the economic costs and benefits associated with the development of a marine protected area (MPA) network in Irish waters. It is also examining novel estimation methods which could be used to analyse how MPAs influence the delivery of ecosystem service benefits as well as carrying out cost effectiveness analysis of alternative management measures that the project partners recommend could be used in establishing the Network. 

For more details on the project and its outputs, go to the main project webpage here.