There is an urgent need to strengthen marine conservation and restoration globally. One of the key measures to achieve this is to ensure that enough sea area is protected in effective ways, which includes the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) in various habitats, with a focus on strictly protected areas. EU Member States are committed to protecting 30% of Europe's sea and land areas by 2030, with one-third under strict protection. While the goal is clear, achieving it is a complex endeavor.

A significant challenge in marine conservation is gaining social acceptance for MPA planning, design, management, and enforcement. The top-down approach often hinders stakeholder engagement until the later stages of MPA development. This late involvement leads to resistance. To address this issue, BLUE4ALL project suggests shifting from the business-as-usual approach to one that combines a bottom-up approach, involving stakeholders from the beginning, with a top-down approach aligned with EU regulations and national initiatives. This approach emphasizes genuine interaction with stakeholders throughout the MPA process.

To solve the issues and challenges and provide solutions for the MPAs in Europe, we will:

• Co-create and test a Blueprint Platform for effective, efficient, and resilient marine protected areas (MPAs) and networks of MPAs
• Address the challenges in the MPA process, including designation, management, and monitoring
• Promote a bottom-up approach towards MPAs with stakeholders at the steering wheel, while aligning with regulatory expectations defined by the EU Biodiversity Strategy and national initiatives
• Develop and document new tools and strategies for dealing with challenges in marine conservation efforts, including the applicability of the concept of Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs)
• Achieve the EU Mission to restore our oceans and waters by creating a firm basis for a European-wide rollout of the BLUE4ALL legacy.

Blue4All project audience and active participants are the stakeholders of 25 MPAs and networks of MPAs in three European sea basins: Mediterranean, Baltic and North East Atlantic.

MPAs and MPA networks provide us with various approaches, experiences, tools and solutions, functioning in the first phase of the project as the Information sites. Afterwards, 14 of the MPAs and MPA networks continue to be involved in role of the Living labs. Living labs’ stakeholders, consisting of their management team, academia, State, local governance, industries, fisheries, NGOs and other stakeholders will be actively involved in the co-creation processes. They will test and co-create tools and solutions to address MPA challenges and take part in the co-creation of an open-source Blueprint Platform for effective, efficient and resilient MPAs and Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs). The sites in the Adria region involved in the Blue4All are Telašćica MPA, Lastovo MPA, Jabuka/Pomo pit fisheries restricted area (FRA) and South Adriatic Ionian Strait - Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Area (EBSA).

The BLUE4ALL consortium consists of 22 partners from 13 EU Member States and 4 EU Sea Basins. The partnership represents the balanced involvement of research institutes, professional consultancies, universities, intergovernmental organizations, MPA authorities and NGOs. The trans-disciplinary team brings not only research experience (theoretical and applied) in marine, ecological and social sciences but also practical expertise in MPA management and development of MPA networks.

Countries and partners:

• Belgium: RBINS (INSTITUT ROYAL DES SCIENCES NATURELLES DE BELGIQUE)
• Italy CMCC (FONDAZIONE CENTRO EUROMEDITERRANEO SUI CAMBIAMENTI CLIMATICI)
• Germany - SUBMARINER NETWORK FOR BLUE GROWTH
• Denmark - SDU (SYDDANSK UNIVERSITET) 
• Finland - SYKE (SUOMEN YMPÄRISTÖKESKUS) 
• Belgium - UA (UNIVERSITEIT ANTWERPEN)
• Ireland - UCD (UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND)
• Italy - UNIPA (UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI PALERMO)
• Estonia - UTARTU (TARTU ÜLIKOOL) 
• Belgium - VLIZ (VLAAMS INSTITUUT VOOR DE ZEE) 
• Croatia - WWF Adria 
• Finland - HELCOM (THE BALTIC MARINE ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION COMMISSION)
• Estonia - KESKKONNAAMET 
• Denmark - ICES ( INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE EXPLORATION OF THE SEA)
• Netherlands - WU (WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY)
• Italy MEDSEA (MEDITERRANEAN SEA AND COST FOUNDATION)
• France - OFB (OFFICE FRANÇAIS DE LA BIODIVERSITÉ)
• Italy - CONSORZIO DI GESTIONE DI TORRE GUACETO
• Italy - COMUNE DI OTRANTO 
• Sweden - WWF Sweden (STIFTELSEN VÄRLDSNATURFONDEN WWF) 
• Italy - WWF Med (FONDAZIONE WWF MEDITERRANEAN)
• Switzerland - IUCN (UNION INTERNATIONALE POUR LA CONSERVATION DE LA NATURE ET DE SES RESSOURCES)