Our Actions
- We empower coastal communities with skills, knowhow, grants and user-friendly resources based on internationally recognised tools tailored to their needs, while working within existing conservation mandates. For more about the tools we use, see our FAQs page.
- We promote system change by convening communities, conservation agencies, governments, and other stakeholders to exchange knowledge and develop more equitable models for co-governance and co-management of marine protected areas.
- We help unlock new funding opportunities by spotlighting existing and new funding sources and working with philanthropic, public and private sector organisations to focus attention on protected area management as a marine restoration opportunity.
- We build public support for equitable, community-managed MPAs through clear and impactful messaging and snapshots of progress towards Community 30x30.
Mobilising
Community
MPAs are not actively managed due to lack of awareness, capacity and finance. We are championing Community 30x30 as a social regeneration opportunity to scale effectively managed MPAs and create long-term community jobs. We are engaging with community groups, statutory nature conservation bodies (NatureScot, Natural England, Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities), Crown Estates, NGOs, academia, the private sector and governments to highlight this opportunity and explore pathways to collectively achieving it.
Our Community 30x30 Snapshots showcase the scale and breadth of community efforts at MPAs and highlight international examples of co-management mechanisms to inspire action.
In development
Future ambitions
Our aim is to secure commitment from governments to support this social regeneration opportunity and to co-develop pathways to support community groups to manage MPAs, through catalysing knowledge-sharing events and providing briefings.
Community
Atlas
We are mapping community group efforts at designated marine protected areas across the UK, to highlight how much effort is collectively underway and to help stakeholders (including us) identify where support can be given, learnings can be shared and collaborations built.
We are developing a database to capture all of the hard work going on at these sites that contributes to ‘active management’, using frameworks developed internationally.
Produced
We have been researching and documenting place‑based community groups engaged in aspects of MPA active management. This information is being stored and refined within a central database. To date, we have produced a static map to support communication and awareness‑raising.
In development
We are developing a searchable database that captures detailed information about community groups, including the type and extent of their management activities. This tool will help identify common themes, opportunities for peer‑to‑peer learning, and areas where shared resources could be beneficial.
Future ambitions
Our long‑term goal is to create a fully interactive map for community groups and stakeholders. This platform will allow users to explore the work of other groups, access information on designations, site values, and environmental pressures, and generate site‑level reports summarising management activities, monitoring results, and research outputs.
Community MPA Grants
We offer grant funding to community groups engaged in any aspect of managing designated coastal or marine protected areas, such as education and outreach, science and monitoring activities, advisory and compliance activities or general management. Our goal is to empower local action and learn from local experience to advance conservation and community priorities.
Explore other community grant opportunities for marine conservation, including these:
Coastal Communities Network, Highlands & Islands Environment Foundation, and Seachangers
If you want to be notified of our future grant schemes, sign up to our newsletter and be sure to follow us on social media.
Produced
Congratulations to the following community groups which were awarded grants in December 2025: Berwickshire Marine Reserve, Coastal Communities Network, Greener Orkney, Moray Ocean Community, Orkney Skate Trust and Ullapool Sea Savers. Follow their stories here.
In development
We are currently offering grants to community groups with whom we are already working, to support education and capacity development activities around marine protected area management.
Future ambitions
We hope to expand our grant scheme to support a greater number of community groups and to convene regular knowledge-building events for community groups to share their MPA management stories and establish relationships and cross-learning opportunities.
Capacity Development, Tools and Resources
We co-create guides, tools and templates with community groups to meet their management needs. These have emerged from brief surveys, conversations with community members and conservation practitioners amongst others. These tools and templates are intended for use by anyone with an interest in working within their local MPA. The list of tools and templates will be added to as we engage with more groups around our coastline.
Produced
Ramsar Documents
These documents and templates have been developed in close consultation with Edinburgh Shoreline.
In development
Community Managed MPA concept. Co-designed with Dive and Sea The Hebrides, and other, this document uses standard terms and a clear structure to organise essential, existing site information. It serves as an initial step, and a discussion point, in the management‑planning process and provides one of the key building blocks for progressing toward effective protected‑area management, in line with IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas guidance.
Future ambitions
We aim to co-develop further tools and templates in response to community needs. We aim to catalyse annual events for community groups, to share co-developed tools, identify needs and foster partnership working and synergies between groups.
