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Euronews
13-06-2025
- Science
- Euronews
The race to 30x30: How far behind are we on ocean protection?
In 2022, the world made the groundbreaking commitment to protect at least 30 per cent of all land and sea by 2030. But, as the vital role of oceans in fighting climate change becomes clearer, a pressing question remains - how much of our marine environment still needs safeguarding to reach that goal? According to new research from Dynamic Planet and National Geographic Pristine Seas, far more than governments are currently prepared to commit. For the first time, experts have quantified the vast gap between the roughly 8 per cent of global oceans currently under some kind of protection and the 30 per cent target. To close this gap, they say 85 new coastal marine protected areas (MPAs) would need to be established every day until 2030. The study estimates the world needs around 190,000 small MPAs in coastal areas, plus 300 large MPAs in remote offshore waters to meet the 30x30 target. 'Our analysis, which covers over 13,000 MPAs worldwide, quickly revealed how far behind the world really is,' says Juan Mayorga, a co-author of the study and marine data scientist at National Geographic Pristine Seas. 'The exact number of additional MPAs needed depends on their size and the standards for what counts as truly protected, but the scale of the challenge is undeniable.' Marine Protected Areas, or MPAs, are sections of the ocean where human activity is more strictly managed to protect natural or cultural resources. Similar to national parks on land, they aim to conserve marine ecosystems, biodiversity, and cultural heritage, while sometimes also supporting the sustainable use of marine resources within their bounds. MPAs vary in purpose and level of protection. Some are fully protected, prohibiting fishing, drilling, or other extractive activities, allowing marine life to thrive without human interference. Others may allow limited, sustainable use of resources such as small-scale fishing or tourism under regulation. But the primary goal is to preserve important habitats and fragile ecosystems like coral reefs, seagrass beds, and breeding grounds for fish, turtles, and other species. According to the study's authors, coastal MPAs are especially crucial, as most biodiversity and human activity concentrate near the shore. Reaching the target, they say, will require massive commitments from countries with extensive coastlines and marine territories such as Indonesia, Canada, Russia and the United States. The highest need is in East Asia and the Pacific, where 102 large and 75,000 small MPAs are required. A total of 65 large and 33,000 small MPAs are needed across Europe, South Asia, and the Coral Triangle - a biodiverse region encompassing Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and others. On paper, it appears that some countries have already met the target, but far more action is needed to ensure these areas are truly protected. Nations like Australia, Chile, France and the UK have already surpassed the 30 per cent protection threshold for their waters. But France and the UK accomplished this with a heavy reliance on creating MPAs in their overseas territories. This raises concerns over effective enforcement and impacts on local communities. Many existing protected areas aren't effective either. In the EU, 80 per cent of MPAs lack proper management and offer minimal protection from damaging human activities. So widespread is the problem that many individual country governments and even the EU itself are facing legal action for allowing damaging fishing practices like bottom trawling in these areas. The creation of protected areas has accelerated as concern over ocean health grows. A slew of commitments have been made at the UN Ocean Conference this week, with many governments using the opportunity to unveil new MPAs on the international stage. Colombia, another country that has already surpassed the 30 per cent target, announced the protection of two of the most remote coral reefs in the Caribbean Sea. Together, the new Serranilla and Bajo Nuevo MPAs encompass 3,800 square kilometres, home to a dazzling array of sealife. The Government of Tanzania announced the designation of two new MPAs in highly biodiverse waters off Pemba Island. The North-East Pemba Conservation Area and the South-East Pemba Conservation Area together span over 1,300 square kilometres and protect vital coral reefs, seagrasses, mangroves, and the habitat of threatened sharks and rays. And President Moetai Brotherson of French Polynesia announced the creation of the world's largest MPA, covering almost 5 million square kilometres. Once implemented, the designation will safeguard 220,000 square kilometres near the Society Islands and 680,000 square kilometres near the Gambier Islands. In addition to these fully protected areas where all activity is prohibited, additional artisanal fishing zones will expand the overall protection to 1,086,000 square kilometres, an area around twice the size of continental France. While these are landmark commitments, experts warn that progress remains far too slow. Most countries have not even outlined how they plan to meet the 30x30 target. 'The pace of implementation of marine protected areas is totally inadequate for what the world needs,' says Enric Sala, co-author of the study and founder of National Geographic Pristine Seas. 'We've had too many conferences full of speeches and good intentions; now we need leadership and real action. Without more effective protection now, the ocean won't be able to continue providing for us, especially for coastal communities in the Global South who are already suffering from overfishing and global warming.'
Forbes
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
The $15.8 Billion Gap: The Smart Economics Of Ocean Protection
As world leaders are gathered in Nice for the third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC), new data has revealed the staggering cost of inaction, and the surprising economics of ocean protection. Despite headline commitments like the Global Biodiversity Framework's promise to safeguard 30% of marine ecosystems by 2030, only 2.7% of the ocean is effectively protected today. That number isn't just inadequate; it's falling. Ocean protection efforts are faltering, with policy talk far outpacing tangible results. The conference is taking place at a critical inflection point. UNOC's priorities (defending ecosystems, building a sustainable blue economy, and accelerating global action) may represent one of the final windows to change course. But while political momentum grows, a fundamental question remains unresolved: who will pay to protect the ocean, and how? World Bank and OECD estimates report that the ocean provides food security for 3.2 billion people, underpins $2.6 trillion in annual economic activity, and stores over 42 times more carbon than the atmosphere. Yet degradation is intensifying: coral reefs are dying, fisheries are collapsing, and coastal ecosystems are collapsing due to underfunding, misaligned incentives, and policy inertia. Reaching the 30% target by 2030 will require establishing around 190,000 small coastal Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and 300 large offshore MPAs. According to report author Kristin Rechberger, founder and chief executive of Dynamic Planet, that's 85 MPAs per day between now and 2030. For context it took 25 years to protect just 8.4% of the ocean; now we must add 21.6% in five. The challenge isn't logistics but perception. MPAs are still seen as financial liabilities, dependent on aid rather than high-return investments. Without a significant shift in political will, financing, and implementation, the 2030 targets are unlikely to be met. Paradoxically, the price tag for turning things around is surprisingly modest. Protecting 30% of the ocean would cost just $15.8 billion a year, including $600 million to establish MPAs and $15.2 billion for their long-term management. In contrast, the IMF reported $7 trillion in fossil fuel subsidies in 2022 alone. Meanwhile, research shows the benefits associated with marine protection often exceed the costs of establishing and managing the areas within just two years. It's estimated that every dollar invested in an MPA can generate up to $10 in economic value. That isn't a burden, it's a bargain. The capital exists, the science is clear, and the solutions are ready. What's missing is not just money, but the mindset to value what the ocean provides. Marine ecosystems offer a triple dividend: climate stability, economic security, and food resilience. Yet benefits like carbon storage, storm buffering, and biodiversity are treated as invisible inputs in economic decision-making, excluded from balance sheets and national accounts. As Dr. Harald Heubaum at the Centre for Sustainable Finance, SOAS University of London emphasised in an interview, protecting mangroves, seagrass, and reefs yields quantifiable returns many times greater than their cost. We have the tools to measure these benefits, he argues, but 'what's missing is a bridge between the evidence, investable products, and connected-up approaches that encourage capital deployment at scale.' At UNOC Enric Sala, an Earthshot Prize nominee and scientific advisor to the executive producer of OCEAN with David Attenborough called for bold political leadership to ban bottom trawling within MPAs and expand no-take zones. "The worst enemy of fishing is overfishing, not protected areas," he said. Sala emphasized that robust protection is essential not just for nature, but for sustaining fishing and coastal economies. Bottom trawling is among the most destructive, and least justifiable, fishing practices still permitted. A 2025 Lancet Planetary Health report found that bottom trawling in Europe emits CO₂ on par with the aviation sector and inflicts up to €11 billion in annual societal costs while contributing less than 0.5% of the global marine catch. It also drives the bycatch crisis, killing an estimated 38 million tonnes of non-target marine life every year, including turtles, dolphins, and juvenile fish, most of which is discarded as waste. This indiscriminate damage erodes biodiversity, undermines fisheries, and weakens ocean resilience. There are signs that the tide may be turning. At UNOC, the UK government launched a consultation to extend its bottom‑trawling ban across 41 MPAs, nearly doubling the areas currently protected to 30,000 km². The move could safeguard vital seabeds, boost biodiversity and carbon storage, and deliver an estimated £3.1 billion in ecosystem benefits. But isolated progress isn't enough. What's needed now are strong, enforceable commitments and coordinated implementation at scale, turning policy signals into lasting protection. Neglecting ocean protection carries a steep and rising cost. Coastal storms and floods already cost up to $40 billion annually, projected to hit $1 trillion by 2050. Seagrass decline alone could cost the global economy $213 billion over the next 25 years. These aren't future risks, they're the mounting price of mismanagement. Ocean finance remains fundamentally misaligned. Despite years of pledges, fossil fuel subsidies remain high, with no significant reduction from 2016 to 2023, according to Nature Climate Change Worse, fossil fossil development is expanding into critical marine ecosystems—over 60% of seagrass beds and 15% of mangroves now overlap with active oil and gas blocks. This is not just policy failure; it's a structural contradiction. We are using public money to fund the destruction of the very systems we claim to protect. The same holds true for fisheries. Harmful subsidies that expand fleet capacity, enable distant-water fishing, or ignore sustainability safeguards continue to fuel overfishing and ecological decline. Aquaculture and agricultural subsidies contribute as well, degrading coastal habitats through pollution and conversion. Reforming these subsidies is a core aim of global efforts like the WTO fisheries subsidies agreement, but progress has been painfully slow. Until these distortions are addressed, efforts to finance a thriving blue economy will be fighting against a current of self-defeating incentives. Another barrier to action is the failure to fund early-stage conservation. Projects like blue carbon initiatives or the development of MPAs often require upfront capital to identify suitable sites, conduct environmental assessments, and engage local communities. This early work often falls into a funding gap, seen as too technical for philanthropy and too early or risky for commercial investors. Still, there is progress. Builders Vision and the Earthshot Prize are working to close a $900 billion funding gap for scalable marine solutions by 2030. Builders Vision has already deployed over $260 million across 158 marine projects, while companies like Fair Carbon are pioneering new approaches to finance, such as repayable finance tailored to blue carbon realities. Peter Bryant, program director, Oceans at Builders Vision said: "We invest in marketable, innovative solutions to build a more resilient future. This week we are harnessing the power of our collective influence to urge global finance, government and industry leaders to get more capital off the sidelines and into ocean innovations that will ensure a thriving blue economy and resilient ocean." For investors, ocean degradation is not just a climate or reputational concern, its a material risk. Marine-dependent industries face growing operational and reputational risk. Salmon farming, for example, depends heavily on fishmeal and fish oil from already overfished wild stocks. Peru's cancelled anchovy season in 2023 doubled global fish oil prices, sending feed costs soaring across the aquaculture sector. As ocean ecosystems become less predictable, so does the business environment. Ocean protection is a critical necessity, for food systems, stability and long term resilience. Three hurdles must be overcome: the ambition gap (what governments promise vs. what they plan), the finance gap (capital isn't flowing), and the implementation gap (where protection exists on paper but not in practice). The near-ratification of the UN High Seas Treaty, now backed by over 100 countries, could be transformative if matched by funding, enforcement, and real collaboration. As of June 9, 2025, 49 countries (plus the European Union) had ratified, just 11 short of the 60 needed. Crucially, 18 countries have ratified during UNOC so far, signalling the potential for significant action. Ocean protection is essential, achievable, and economically smart, but it requires decisive and immediate action. As negotiations continue in Nice, the UN Ocean Conference presents a critical opportunity to close the protection gap. The evidence is clear: marine conservation delivers substantial economic, environmental, and social return. Further delay is not a neutral choice, it is a decision to deepen risk, accelerate loss, and forfeit opportunity.
India Today
25-04-2025
- General
- India Today
David Attenborough launches new initiative to protect 30% of world's oceans
Oceans surrounding the countries of Britain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Mexico, the Philippines, and Indonesia are witnessing the effects of overfishing on their marine along with climate change, has become a major cause of disturbing the biodiversity of the tackle this, a new initiative is being launched by British naturalist David Attenborough to help communities profit from the efforts to protect at least 30% of the world's oceans by the decade's This initiative is led by the NGO Dynamic Planet and the National Geographic Society's Pristine Seas programme and will assist local communities in their efforts to establish "marine protected areas" in coastal waters."The worst enemy of fishing is overfishing," Enric Sala, executive director of National Geographic Pristine Seas told Reuters. Implementation of this treaty in the present year is essential to meet the global targets. (Photo: Getty) The researchers also mentioned that protecting marine areas would have economic benefits, by improving fishing yields and boosting also said Marine Protected Areas (MPA) creation has been far too slow, noting that more than 190,000 protected areas would need to be established in order to meet the "30 by 30" target - to bring 30% of the oceans under formal protection by marine life revives local economies and communities. It's time for the world to recognise that MPAs are the building blocks of the blue economy," said Kristin Rechberger, the founder of Revive Our Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, which was signed in 2023 to protect ocean biodiversity, was signed by more than 100 countries, but ratified by just countries, except the United States, are meeting in New York this year to discuss further measures to be taken. Whereas the treaty needs ratification by 60 countries to come into force."Countries are pulling out all the stops to fast-track ratification in several places," said Rebecca Hubbard, director of the High Seas of this treaty in the present year is essential to meet the global targets, as only 8% or 29 million square kilometres of oceans are protected.
Al Etihad
24-04-2025
- General
- Al Etihad
'Revive Our Ocean' initiative, backed by David Attenborough, launched to protect coastal waters
24 Apr 2025 18:29 SINGAPORE (REUTERS)A new initiative backed by British naturalist David Attenborough was launched on Thursday to help communities profit from efforts to protect at least 30% of the world's oceans by the end of the initiative, dubbed Revive Our Ocean, is led by the NGO Dynamic Planet, together with the National Geographic Society's Pristine Seas programme, and will assist local communities in their efforts to establish "marine protected areas" in coastal will focus initially on tackling overfishing and ocean climate impacts in Britain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Mexico, the Philippines, and Indonesia."The worst enemy of fishing is overfishing," said Enric Sala, executive director of National Geographic Pristine behind the initiative said that establishing marine protected areas would also have economic benefits, noting a study showing that they improved fishing yields and also boosted tourism."Marine protected areas are good businesses," said Kristin Rechberger, the founder of Revive Our also said MPA creation has been far too slow, noting that more than 190,000 protected areas would need to be established in order to meet the "30 by 30" target - to bring 30% of the oceans under formal protection by 2030."Reviving marine life revives local economies and communities. It's time for the world to recognise that MPAs are the building blocks of the blue economy," Rechberger are meeting in New York this week to discuss how to implement and finance a global treaty agreed in 2023 to protect ocean biodiversity. The treaty will go into effect once it has been formally ratified by 60 more than 100 countries signed the treaty, only 21 have ratified it. More ratifications are expected ahead of the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference in France in June."Countries are really pulling out all the stops to fast track ratification in a number of places," said Rebecca Hubbard, director of the High Seas Alliance, a coalition of environmental groups say the agreement needs to come into effect this year if the world is to meet its target. Currently, only about 8% - or 29 million square kilometres - is protected.
Reuters
24-04-2025
- General
- Reuters
'Revive Our Ocean' initiative launched to protect coastal waters
SINGAPORE, April 24 (Reuters) - A new initiative backed by British naturalist David Attenborough was launched on Thursday to help communities profit from efforts to protect at least 30% of the world's oceans by the end of the decade. The initiative, dubbed Revive Our Ocean, is led by the NGO Dynamic Planet together with the National Geographic Society's Pristine Seas programme and will assist local communities in their efforts to establish "marine protected areas" in coastal waters. here. It will focus initially on tackling overfishing and ocean climate impacts in Britain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Mexico, the Philippines and Indonesia. "The worst enemy of fishing is overfishing," said Enric Sala, executive director of National Geographic Pristine Seas. Organisers behind the initiative said that establishing marine protected areas would also have economic benefits, noting a study showing that they improved fishing yields and also boosted tourism. "Marine protected areas are good businesses," said Kristin Rechberger, the founder of Revive Our Ocean. They also said MPA creation has been far too slow, noting that more than 190,000 protected areas would need to be established in order to meet the "30 by 30" target - to bring 30% of the oceans under formal protection by 2030. "Reviving marine life revives local economies and communities. It's time for the world to recognize that MPAs are the building blocks of the blue economy," Rechberger said. Countries are meeting in New York this week to discuss how to implement and finance a global treaty agreed in 2023 to protect ocean biodiversity. The treaty will go into effect once it has been formally ratified by 60 governments. Though more than 100 countries signed the treaty, only 21 have ratified it. More ratifications are expected ahead of the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference in France in June. "Countries are really pulling out all the stops to fast track ratification in a number of places," said Rebecca Hubbard, director of the High Seas Alliance, a coalition of environmental groups. Environmental groups say the agreement needs to come into effect this year if the world is to meet its target. Currently, only about 8% - or 29 million square kilometres - is protected. Though the United States was involved in setting up the treaty, it has been absent from this week's negotiations, and is now not expected to ratify it.
