- As delegates to COP16 debate conservation measures like 30×30 initiatives, a new op-ed by the environment director of Bloomberg Philanthropies, Antha Williams, and the founder of Pristine Seas, Dr. Enric Sala, says that protecting our ocean is more than a conservation measure — it’s a lifeline.
- Well-managed and highly protected marine areas (MPAs) help restore ecosystems, ensuring food security and livelihoods for the billions who depend on them, but a new analysis shows that only 8.3% of the world’s ocean is protected in this way, and that most MPAs are either protected weakly or in name only.
- “Ocean protection has never been more urgent. As leaders gather in Cali, they must ensure that ‘protecting our ocean’ means truly protecting it. The 30×30 target will only be meaningful if we protect areas effectively — not just on paper,” they argue.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily Mongabay.
Our ocean is being hit hard by global warming. Marine heatwaves are devastating coral reefs, triggering the largest global mass bleaching event on record last year, while ocean wildlife — already struggling from overfishing — faces mounting challenges. New research shows a 56% decline in marine species populations since 1970. Simply put, our blue ocean is flashing red.
In this context, the Biden-Harris Administration’s announcement of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary off the Central California coast of the United States is a welcome decision. This 4,500-square-mile sanctuary will be the third largest in the U.S. and, for the first time, led by Indigenous peoples, whose stewardship is critical to preserving biodiversity. Critically, the sanctuary will prevent the expansion of offshore oil drilling.
Protecting our ocean is more than a conservation measure — it’s a lifeline. Well-managed and highly protected marine areas (MPAs) that ban or seriously restrict industrial fishing and other damaging activities help restore ecosystems, ensuring food security and livelihoods for the billions who depend on healthy oceans. Only in these highly protected MPAs can marine life recover to its full potential and deliver a myriad of benefits to marine life, people, and the economy. They are also essential in the fight against global warming, helping to capture more of our carbon pollution than depleted areas.
But, concerningly, a new report from a consortium of NGO partners funded by the Bloomberg Ocean Fund has found that only 8.3% of the world’s ocean is designated as MPAs. Worse, most MPAs are either protected in name only or so weakly regulated that substantial harmful activities like bottom trawling and fossil fuel extraction are allowed to continue within these supposedly protected spaces. In fact, less than 3% of the global ocean is highly or fully protected.
This comes two years after the world’s nations committed to the “30×30” goal under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework: conserving 30% of the Earth’s land, freshwater, and ocean by 2030. Now, for the first time since 2022, governments will have a chance to review progress towards 30×30, as they meet for the COP16 UN Biodiversity Conference in Cali, Colombia.
However, the report reveals that progress has stalled. Since 2022, marine protection has increased by only 0.5%, and only four countries — Comoros, Oman, France, and Australia — have meaningfully expanded ocean protections. If the current pace continues, only 9.7% of the ocean will be protected by 2030.
The data also reveals a troubling trend: only 14 nations have designated 30% or more of their waters as protected. Even in the UK, which has protected 68% of its territorial waters, over 90% of its MPAs are in overseas territories — places like the Pitcairn Islands and Tristan da Cunha – locales nearly unpopulated by humans where extractive activities are limited, and economic pressures are less immediate. These remote protections are of enormous global value, but they are not enough. Less than 1% of the UK’s domestic waters are protected in no-take areas. Protection efforts need to be extended to domestic waters and areas with active populations and fisheries, where balancing conservation with livelihoods is more complex.
The Global North must lead by example. It needs to restore degraded ecosystems in its own waters and invest in conservation efforts abroad, financially and through capacity building. This is an ethical imperative, as industrialized nations have vacuumed fish from the waters of low income nations worldwide, with little local benefits.
Critically, research shows that the benefits of achieving the 30×30 target outweigh the costs, with returns that include sustainable fisheries, healthier marine ecosystems, and economic opportunities for coastal communities. Every dollar invested in a well-managed MPA produces on average $10 in economic output.
To achieve 30×30 in the ocean and secure its long-term environmental and financial rewards, five key actions are required from governments:
First, they must increase the extent and number of protected areas in national and international waters. This applies both to MPAs but also to other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs). We need to establish networks of MPAs providing ecological connectivity, for example allowing salmon to migrate between freshwater rivers and across vast swathes of the ocean. With two-thirds of the ocean outside of national jurisdictions, countries’ ratification of the High Seas Treaty is an absolute priority to enable the establishment of MPAs in international waters.
Second, designating MPAs is not enough – they must be implemented and actively managed. Governments should prioritize increasing the coverage of ‘highly’ or ‘fully’ protected MPAs in their countries’ contributions toward the global 30×30 target. The Azores set an excellent example recently, when its leaders approved legislation to establish 287,000 square kilometers of marine protected areas — the largest MPA network in Europe. As a result, 15% of Azorean waters are now designated as fully protected and another 15% as highly protected.
Third, developed nations need to provide the necessary financial support to help developing nations protect their waters. In 2022, they committed to provide at least $20 billion annually by 2025 and $30 billion by 2030 — this support is yet to materialize. It is also critical to the continued legitimacy of the Global Biodiversity Framework.
Fourth, governments must standardize data collection to monitor progress against the 30×30 target. This is essential to monitor progress against the 30×30 target and hold countries accountable to their promises.
Finally – and critically – governments should recognize the knowledge and restore the rights of Indigenous peoples. It makes sense to devolve coastal conservation management to local communities. Where government resources can help, these should be given.
Ocean protection has never been more urgent. As leaders gather in Cali, they must ensure that ‘protecting our ocean’ means truly protecting it. The 30×30 target will only be meaningful if we protect areas effectively — not just on paper. The time to act is now.
Antha Williams leads the Environment program at Bloomberg Philanthropies, while Dr. Enric Sala is a National Geographic Explorer in Residence and founder and Executive Director of Pristine Seas, which is a grantee of Bloomberg but was not part of the NGO consortium which authored the report referenced above, “On track or off course? Assessing progress toward the 30×30 target in the ocean.”
Banner image: Sea turtle swimming off Kihei, Hawai’i. Image courtesy of Mitch Meyers via Unsplash.
See related coverage & commentary:
Indigenous territories & peoples are key to achieving COP16’s 30×30 target (commentary)
Data drives Bloomberg’s support for climate solutions, says Antha N. Williams
Credits
