Protecting Blue Horizons – A role play to make an MPA work

Human activities are the major cause for what has been recognized as the 6^th Mass Species Extinction. It is thus important to spread knowledge and raise awareness about the issues because we depend on biodiversity in ways that are not always apparent or appreciated. In December 2022, delegates from 196 governments adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The GBF supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and sets out an ambitious pathway towards living in harmony with nature by 2050. Meanwhile, the lengthy ratification process is no guarantee of full enforcement after entry into force. Typically, different interest groups may resist top-down measures affecting them. This is known as the implementation gap of international treaties and agreements. Here we describe a role play intent on matching a key element of the top-down GBF, namely the establishment of interconnected marine protected areas (MPAs), with bottom-up awareness raising and deliberation among diverse stakeholders. Eleven characters of stakeholders have been developed through wide-ranging interviews and literature research. For each stakeholder an information sheet explains the context and his or her role. Based on the interviews, a general introduction and guidance for a moderator is provided together with a tentative schedule. Emphasis is placed on allocating sufficient time for the debriefing after a round of deliberations aiming at consensus towards establishing an effective MPA. The assumption is that the debriefing produces most learning about why biodiversity protection is essential and how to sustain a respectful dialogue process with persons holding different positions from one’s own. A first round of tests with young adults has already generated useful feedback allowing some improvements of the initial set. We propose the role play for wider use as a low-entry support for bottom-up participation in GBF implementation.