Swedish and Danish MPAs: activity regulation and <i>MPA Guide</i> Levels of Protection

Local experts also provided spatial information, including additional polygons for recently designated MPAs and selected activity layers, and contributed to joint decisions on assessment assumptions. Assumptions regarding the potential impacts of activities, including their scale, are documented in the accompanying metadata.</p><p dir="ltr">Files are provided in standard, open formats to facilitate reuse in GIS software, spatial analyses, and integration with international data platforms.

The data are suitable for applications such as marine spatial planning, assessments of MPA effectiveness, policy monitoring, and comparative analyses across regions.</p><p dir="ltr">This dataset was developed within the Horizon Europe MARHAB project as part of an assessment of MPA protection across Scandinavia and complements the Norwegian MPA dataset: <i>Norwegian MPAs: activity regulation and MPA Guide Levels of Protection</i> (<a href="doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.31057699" target="_blank">doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.31057699</a>), associated with Horta e Costa et al. (2026), <i>Data on Marine Protection Levels in Norwegian MPAs: A National Application of The MPA Guide</i>, Data in Brief, 67, 113034 (<a href="doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2026.113034" target="_blank">doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2026.113034</a>).

Together, these datasets provide comparable information on MPA regulations and Levels of Protection across Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Future updates or refinements will be versioned within this repository.</p>