IUCN IMMAs SPECIALIST GROUP MISSION

The Important Marine Mammal Areas Specialist Group (IMMA SG) was created as a Task Force in 2013 by the International Committee on Marine Mammal Protected Areas (ICMMPA), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) Marine Vice Chair, and the Chair of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission (SSC) to help support a stronger global profile and to provide a stronger voice for the MMPA constituency within IUCN. In 2026 the Task Force was invited by IUCN to form a Specialist Group.

The goal of the IMMA SG is to facilitate mechanisms to encourage collaboration, sharing information and experience to access and disseminate knowledge and tools for establishing, monitoring, and managing MMPAs and promoting effective spatial solutions and best practices for marine mammal conservation.