-sandine-ruitton-pmcb-2.jpg "herbier et gorgone coralligène© Sandine Ruitton PMCB (2)")
What we achieved
GreenList4MMPAs has contributed to advancing the fair and effective conservation of the Mediterranean’s rich natural heritage through the IUCN Green List Standard: a global benchmark to help all types of Protected Areas, including Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) assess and improve their quality.
GreenList4MMPAs has provided Mediterranean MPAs with tools to measure their performance and understand how to improve it.
ACTIVITY 1
Adapting the Green List to Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas
The GreenList4MMPAs project developed practical guidance and notes to effectively apply the Green List Standard v1.1 in Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas.
The project has:
Reviewed over 1,700 documents
A literature review helped find relevant documents to inform the development of the first draft of the guidance and notes for applying the IUCN Green List to the Mediterranean marine context. Scientific papers, grey literature and reports were surveyed to identify international and national frameworks for assessing MPA effectiveness.
Of the over 1,700 documents collected in the initial search, 253 abstracts were screened and 143 documents were finally selected for full-text review. This review yielded over 300 distinct insights to support the clarity and applicability of the Green List standard in marine areas.
Gathered insights from Green Listed MPAs
To supplement the literature review, the project interviewed the teams of 8 Green Listed MPAs. These interviews focused on the application of the Green List in the marine context. This helped build a better understanding on the technical and procedural challenges and enablers for the application of the Green List in MPAs.
Surveyed MPA managers
A survey was designed and circulated with MPA managers to gather their feedback on the draft guidance and notes for the application of the Green List standard to Mediterranean MPAs.
The survey was sent out to a diverse group of MPAs, including nationally designated areas, Natura 2000 sites, and international designations, across all seven Mediterranean ecoregions.
45 MPA managers from 10 Mediterranean countries responded. This included respondents from EU countries (Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, Montenegro, Greece, and Cyprus) as well as non-EU Mediterranean countries (Tunisia and Türkiye).
Consulted at the National level
The project organised six National Focus Group meetings involving over 70 experts across eights Mediterranean countries: Albania, Croatia (with Montenegro), France, Greece (with Cyprus), Italy, and Spain.
These meetings brought together key national stakeholders involved in MPA management, including MPA managers, authorities, and scientists, who contributed their valuable insights to ground the project’s outputs in real-life management experience.
During each meeting, experts jointly reviewed draft guidance and notes for the application of the Green List being proposed by the project, tested its relevance against national realities, and proposed concrete improvements. Discussions focused particularly on indicators identified by practitioners as the most challenging or unclear, ensuring the final guidance is both practical and applicable on the ground.
By engaging directly with national stakeholders, the project ensured that the guidance and notes were co-developed with those who know the region best, making it both practical and relevant to the diverse national contexts of the Mediterranean.
Finalised guidance and notes
The project developed practical guidance and notes to support the effective interpretation and application of the Green List Standard v1.1 to Mediterranean MPAs.
Guidance and explanatory notes are provided for each of the 50 Green List indicators, tailored to the Mediterranean marine context.
What next?
The guidance and notes for applying the Green List to the Mediterranean will…
- Be publicly available for MPA managers to identify what works, what needs strengthening and where additional support is required
- Help MPA managers apply the Green List standard by providing insights reflecting the diversity of governance systems, ecological conditions and management capacities of Mediterranean MPAs
- Be updated once the new Green List Standard v2.0 is launched. Insights from the development of the guidelines were fed into the process to create the new standard.
ACTIVITY 2
Establishing an Expert Group for Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas
The GreenList4MMPAs project supported the creation and organization of an EAGL focused on Mediterranean MPAs (Med MPA EAGL).
The project has:
Launched the first Mediterranean Marine Green List expert group
The Mediterranean Marine Expert Assessment Group for the Green List (EAGL) was formed during a meeting held in May 2025 in Málaga, Spain. The expert group is composed of 11 members from across Mediterranean with diverse backgrounds in MPA management and research.
The Marine Mediterranean EAGL fulfils the role of assessing MPAs that apply to join the IUCN Green List, among other functions.
In addition, the Marine Mediterranean EAGL has played a central role in supporting the activities of the GreenList4MMPAs project by contributing their valuable expertise to all stages of the development of the Guidance and Notes for the application of the Green List to Mediterranean MPAs.
What next?
The Mediterranean Marine EAGL will…
- continue supporting the application of the IUCN
Green List to Mediterranean MPAs - work alongside existing national and regional EAGLs to assess Mediterranean MPAs embarking on the Green List journey.
