{"id":9613,"date":"2022-08-04T18:42:40","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T16:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/?p=9613"},"modified":"2022-08-04T18:42:40","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T16:42:40","slug":"mpa-day-celebrations-connect-the-world-in-the-fight-for-ocean-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/beaches\/mpa-day-celebrations-connect-the-world-in-the-fight-for-ocean-health\/","title":{"rendered":"MPA Day celebrations connect the world in the fight for ocean health"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>\u201cSouth Africa\u2019s fate \u2013 and the fate of the world \u2013 is closely tied to the health of our ocean.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8211;\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<em>Mathu Joyini, South Africa\u2019s ambassador and representative to the United Nations<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The second annual MPA Day, which is held on the 1 August every year, welcomed many countries in celebrating Marine Protected Areas (MPA) and their value to ocean, and human health. The initiative, which started in South Africa last year, brings global awareness to these \u2018nature reserves of the sea\u2019, with community-based events hosted at various MPAs this year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re so grateful to all the event organisers, volunteers and supporters who contributed to making this MPA Day such a success!\u201d said Dr Judy Mann, Executive of Strategic Projects at the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation. \u201cThe urgency needed in protecting these ocean havens is becoming apparent internationally, and it\u2019s fantastic to see the support from global organisations through to individuals living around MPAs. While this is an annual celebration, we\u2019ll continue to build on this momentum as we work towards building support for MPAs and the people who depend on the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>MPA Day gained further recognition after the 2021 campaign received five awards, including one gold, at the 2022 PRISM Awards held on 15 July. This was not only a well-deserved honour for the communication companies behind the campaign &#8211; Flow Communications and Olivia Jones Communications \u2013 as well as the entire MPA Day team, but also brought much-needed focus to the message behind the event.<\/p>\n<p>The 2022 MPA Day celebrations followed the theme #LetsTalkMPAs. Some of the key MPA-based events included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Celebrations of the Aliwal Shoal MPA were held at Scottburgh, hosted by SAAMBR &amp; Olivia Jones Communications<\/li>\n<li>Dalebrook in the Table Mountain MPA was the scene for celebrations hosted by the Two Oceans Aquarium, I Am Water, Ocean Hub Africa and Save Our Seas Shark Education Centre<\/li>\n<li>Betty\u2019s Bay MPA was highlighted in a video produced by Cape Nature featuring interviews with various stakeholders<\/li>\n<li>iSimangaliso Wetland Park MPA celebrations were hosted by WILDTRUST, Youth4MPAs, uFudu Turtle Tours, Adventure Mania<\/li>\n<li>Robben Island Heritage Trust celebrated with a beach clean-up.<\/li>\n<li>Youth in the area experienced the uThukela MPA thanks to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In addition to these, <strong>Homebrew Films<\/strong> has put together a beautiful video for MPA Day featuring well known celebrity Irshaad Ally. Lively interaction took place on the <strong>Twitter Chat<\/strong> featuring MPA Alliance partners and several well-known influencers engaging with the public around the hashtags #MPADay #LetsTalkMPAs. To round off the day a team of leading marine experts spoke on the topic \u2018Do Marine Protected Areas work?\u2019 during an <strong>MPA Day Webinar<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t miss out!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The MPA Day celebrations will continue with several ongoing events which the public is encouraged to support. These include the:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>2022 <strong>MPA Photo Competition<\/strong> to highlight the 42 South African Marine Protected Areas running until 30 August. There are two categories; \u2018Under the Water in an MPA\u2019, and \u2018Above the Water in an MPA\u2019 for amateur and professional photographers. More information is available <a href=\"https:\/\/click.icptrack.com\/icp\/relay.php?r=5092432&amp;msgid=219307&amp;act=RLNI&amp;c=1681970&amp;pid=2857389&amp;destination=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.squarespace.com%2Fstatic%2F5b0803f8aa49a1a19013059d%2Ft%2F62b353a786745d27c99bd8f3%2F1655919531059%2FMPA%2BDay%2BPhoto%2BCompetition%2B2022%2Bfinal.pdf&amp;cf=6110&amp;v=7f211e533019d2c55057c532bf21f9f24f295cc3ce8575f57ce7db53f8b62e0a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MPA+Day+Photo+Competition+2022+final.pdf (squarespace.com)<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Citizen scientists are also encouraged to contribute towards the <strong>iNaturalist MPA Project<\/strong>. For those who enjoy diving, snorkeling or just exploring rocky shores with a camera, this is a chance to contribute towards MPA Day by sharing photos and supporting scientific research. Find out more at <a href=\"https:\/\/click.icptrack.com\/icp\/relay.php?r=5092432&amp;msgid=219307&amp;act=RLNI&amp;c=1681970&amp;pid=2857389&amp;destination=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.inaturalist.org%2Fprojects%2Fsouth-african-marine-protected-areas-mpas&amp;cf=6110&amp;v=e2d8596c11343170fb4eea543b7a3a9233b0fab465243c58c1441e4efa3e8e27\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.inaturalist.org\/projects\/south-african-marine-protected-areas-mpas<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To show your support, find out more about MPAs and to become part of the global climate crisis awareness movement, check out the social media pages:<\/p>\n<p>Instagram @marineprotectedareassa<\/p>\n<p>Twitter @MPAsSA1<\/p>\n<p>Facebook Marine Protected Areas SA (@MPASouthAfrica) following the hashtags #MPADay #LetsTalkMPAs #MPAs #MarineProtectedArea; or visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marineprotectedareas.org.za\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.marineprotectedareas.org.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The MPA Alliance partners contributing to MPA Day 2022 are: Flow Communications, Olivia Jones Communications, Two Oceans Aquarium, SAAMBR, WILDTRUST, WWF South Africa &amp; Youth4MPAs, Ocean Hub Africa, I am water,<\/p>\n<p>WWF-SASSI, Save our Seas<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cSouth Africa\u2019s waters account for 15% of the world\u2019s marine species and are the site of the biggest annual migration on the planet. Protecting the high seas \u2013 ocean beyond national jurisdiction \u2013 is key to preserving these vital ecosystems.\u201d &#8211; Pew Environment<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cSouth Africa\u2019s fate \u2013 and the fate of the world \u2013 is closely tied to the health of our ocean.\u201d &#8211;\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Mathu Joyini, South Africa\u2019s ambassador and representative to the United Nations The second annual MPA Day, which is held on the 1 August every year, welcomed many countries in celebrating Marine Protected Areas (MPA) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2512],"tags":[5989,5990,5988,5367],"class_list":["post-9613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-beaches","tag-marine-protected-areas","tag-mpa","tag-mpa-day","tag-olivia-jones-communications"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}