A Systematic Planning Approach for Identifying Priority Areas for Conservation Technical Report

Goals and Conservation Objectives Through the Marine Ecological Conservation for the Canadian Eastern Arctic (MECCEA) study, WWF-Canada’s goals are to: • identify a network of priority areas for conservation (PACs) in Canada’s Arctic marine environment; • encourage the Government of Canada to institute a sound Arctic marine protected area network as part of its international commitments to marine. [...] The MECCEA study (Marine Ecological Conservation for the Canadian Eastern Arctic) has three conservation objectives: • To protect distinctive, unique, rare or endangered species and ecological features: • To protect representative examples of each type of identified ecosystem and habitat: • To ensure that the PACs are integrated into the wider landscape and seascape by patterns of connectivity. [...] We also included other aspects of connectivity: summer and winter use areas by marine birds and marine mammals; and connections between ocean and freshwater, and to and from the land. [...] Management must be recognized in the context of whole-Arctic marine conservation and the rights of Indigenous peoples. [...] 12 GOALS AND Conservation OBJECTIVES OF MECCEA AND THE PLANNING PROCESS ..............................