Lebanon’s Marine Protected Area Strategy: Supporting the management of important marine habitats and species in Lebanon.

With the intent of setting the national priority actions needed for the establishment of new marine protected areas and for the proper management of existing and new MPAs, and to define the type of interventions needed at technical, research, regulatory, policy, institutional, financial, educational, capacity building, communication and promotion levels, the Government of Lebanon adopted this Marine Protected Area Strategy. It is a national sector document that, in accordance with the articles of the Convention on Biological Diversity and other biodiversity-related Conventions and Agreements, aims to achieve a healthy, productive, and biologically diverse marine environment. This goal requires the creation of a well-managed, ecologically coherent network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Lebanese waters as stated in the Vision of “an effective marine protected areas network contributing to sustainable development by enhancing natural and cultural diversity”.