The MedPAN network brings together the managers of Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas and supports them in their management activities.The network aims to promote the establishment, the operation and the sustainability of a Mediterranean network of Marine Protected Areas.

MaPAMed (Marine Protected Areas in the Mediterranean) is an SIG database which stores data about Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas, and more widely about sites of interest for the conservation of marine environment. It is developed and managed by MedPAN organization and RAC/SPA.

During the Forum held in Antalya (Turkey, 25th – 28 th November 2012), the Mediterranean MPA community identified the actions needed to establish an effective ecological network of MPAs. They elaborated a roadmap calling for urgent action and aimed at achieving, by 2020, the objectives set by international commitments.

The photographic exhibition by Mathieu Foulquié and Renaud Dupuy de la Grandrive, co-produced by MedPAN and the two photographers is presented this week as part of the Euro-Mediterranean Symposium on the management of artificial reefs (from 5 to 8 February in Marseilles, France).

IMPAC3, the third International Marine Protected Areas Congress, will be held in Marseille, France, from 21 to 25 October 2013. Please note that the second part of the congress, organized in Corsica, is set aside for high-level policy issues. A call for paper has been launched and participants can submit abstracts online on www.impac3.org from 15 March to 10 May 2013.