Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are a key tool of the nature conservation toolkit but their establishment does not always translate in effective protection of the marine environment when there are implementation issues regarding management measures and lack of environmental awareness of sea-users and regulators. In April and May 2015, together with marine biologists (Dr. Coppa and Dr. de Lucia) at the National Research Council of Oristano and in partnership with the Director of the MPA, Dr. Margherita Pieraccini will be leading a series of impact activities in Sardinia, Italy to discuss and address compliance gaps hindering the effective governance of the Sinis MPA Area, the second largest MPA in Italy displaying high levels of fishing efforts and recreational activities.

The following activities will be conducted:

1) a stakeholders workshop with regulators and sea-users,

2) educational activities: a short course for high school science teachers to integrate marine conservation into next year school curriculum and an ecological day where primary school children will visit the MPA and will be introduced to the challenges of marine conservation,

3) a public meeting to discuss the rights of the public to participate in environmental-decision making.

The project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council Impact Accelerator Account.