South Asia Marine and Coastal Protected Areas: (MCPA)

Tool kit - Managing Marine Protected Areas

About this site

The South Asia Marine and Coastal Protected Area (MCPA) web portal is an interactive platform that has been developed to facilitate regional communication linkages and improve access to, and sharing of, information relevant to MCPAs in the South Asia region. The portal is designed as a dynamic resource for the five maritime nations of South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka). The portal provides individuals involved or interested in any aspect of MCPA management, research and development with easy access to regional information, tools and resources, details of regional and international experts, and opportunities to keep abreast of recent developments, and share findings and experiences.

The portal is an initiative of the “Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Development for the Long-term Management and Conservation of MCPAs encompassing Coral Reefs in South Asia” project funded by the European Union. The portal has been developed by IUCN in collaboration with the International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN), on behalf of UNEP.

MCPA Resources

Resources relevant to MCPA management, research and development are provided in searchable databases:

1. MCPA Directory – There are over 250 MCPAs located in the South Asian region. This section provides a brief description of the protected area network of each of the five maritime nations in South Asia and a dedicated directory of the MCPAs in each country with basic information about their location, extent, national and international designations, types of habitats and links to detailed profiles on global databases such as World Database on Protected Areas and MPA Global, if the MCPA is listed in such databases.

2. Resources Database – Over 400 tools, scientific papers, articles and resources have already been uploaded into the database to support planning, management and research.

3. Experts Database – search for marine and coastal experts in your area.

4. Picture Gallery – images from across the region.

5. Projects and Initiatives – profiles of past and present regional or national projects/ initiatives relevant to MCPAs in the South Asia region highlight and share marine and coastal resource management efforts.

Information Upload Centre

One of the main objectives of the South Asia MCPA portal is to provide an interactive platform for users in South Asia to exchange information. The portal can be used to showcase success stories as well as other relevant information such as:

Ongoing or completed projects: We are collating information on regional activities and projects using the following template. To share information on your activities, please complete the project profile form and submit to the webmaster.
Pictures: All pictures should be accompanied by a small description and Photo credits
Resources: If the document is less than 2mb email it as an attachment and if it is larger than 2mb please send the link to the site from where the document can be downloaded
Experts: Marine and Coastal experts and practitioners who wish to be recognized on the database please contact the web administrator.
Changes in protected area status: Information provided on protected area status will be shared with the World Database on Protected Areas to support national data holdings.

Please send all the information that you wish to post in the website to the webmaster (fss@iucnsl.org).

Web Design and Database Development and Web statistics