The UK has signed up to international agreements that aim to establish an 'ecologically coherent network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)' by 2012. This means the network will be a collection of areas that work together to provide more benefits than an individual area could on its own. The UK MPA network will be made up of the designations illustrated below, including new Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs). In the south-west the network will consist of MCZs, European Marine Sites, SSSIs and Ramsar Sites.