Paper park
Area with weakly enforced environmental protections
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Background
A 2020 report by NGO Oceana revealed that many European Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) function as "paper parks," offering minimal real protection. Of the 3,449 Natura 2000 MPAs assessed, 70% faced at least one significant threat, with some sites in the Netherlands and the UK experiencing up to 12 threats. Only 0.07% of the total MPA network was free from any assessed threats, while 86% of the network was impacted by damaging fishing gear.[4]