July 13, 2020
Dan is Emeritus Marine Vice Chair of WCPA, having retired from that position in 2022. During his near two decades of work for WCPA he led the increase of MPA coverage from around 1.3% of the global ocean to the c8% seen today, the creation of the original global 20 – 30% MPA target in the Durban Accord, and the ‘at least 30%’ MPA target at Sydney World Park Congress. The latter, resoundingly supported by IUCN members at Hawaii World Conservation Congress, and adopted for land and freshwater, has now become the central focus for negotiations in the CBD’s post-2020 biodiversity framework. During his tenure, among many significant achievements, he was instrumental in forming the High Seas Alliance, in laying the basis for UNESCO’s Marine World Heritage Programme, and creating such influential phrases as ‘marine and coastal carbon sinks’, ‘ocean risk’, and ‘natural solutions’. Working with his co-editor Professor John Baxter, together they created some of the most downloaded publications for IUCN in recent decades, focused on elevating topics such as ‘ocean warming’ and ‘ocean deoxygenation’ into the global public domain. He also led Commission members in the development of specific marine WCPA guidance on the IUCN Management Categories and created and led the development of IUCN’s MPA Standards.