Assessment of the ecological coherence of the UK’s marine protected area network

The concept of ecological coherence is based on the recognition that a network of protected areas should ideally be regarded as a whole, greater than the sum of its individual protected areas.

The Joint Links, a coalition bringing together 50 organisations for the protection of nature, commissioned GoBe to assess the ecological coherence of the UK’s MPA network. Through a series of spatial ecological coherence tests and the identification of gaps in the network, GoBe provided pragmatic recommendations for moving towards a more ecologically coherent MPA network in the UK.