Update on Protecting Oceans and Marine Biodiversity
- Apr 22
- 2 min read
Watchdog Institute Says More Territory Covered, But Results Weak
In January 2021, the United Nations designated the next 10 years as the “ocean decade.” A key goal is for nations to work together to protect the well-being and biodiversity of 30% of marine, coastal, terrestrial and inland water areas by 2030, a plan known as “30 x 30.”
An ocean protection advocacy group has recently released a midway report that finds global marine protections are increasing, but they may not be delivering meaningful conservation benefits.
New assessments highlighted by the Marine Conservation Institute (MCI) suggest that the world is still far from achieving not just the quantity, but the quality, of activities needed to safeguard marine biodiversity.
Key Data Points
New global assessments now cover 43,830,000 km² of ocean, representing 12.1% of the global ocean (including proposed protected areas).
According to the MCI’s Marine Protection Atlas, 9.6% of the ocean is currently designated as protected.
When stricter criteria are applied, just 3.2% of the global ocean is considered fully or highly protected—meaning it is effectively managed for biodiversity conservation.
According to MCI, about 27% more of global ocean areas need to be effectively protected over the next five years to achieve “30 x 30” targets.
Approximately one-quarter of reported marine protected areas (MPAs) exist largely on paper and are not yet implemented in practice.
About one-third of MPAs permit high-impact activities such as bottom trawling and dredging, which undermine conservation goals.
The analysis underpinning these findings assessed over 90% of the world’s marine protected area coverage, offering one of the most comprehensive evaluations to date.
Why It Matters
The “30 x 30” goal is part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. A seventh national progress report was due in February, and 125 countries filed reports.
The ultimate goals are to ensure that by 2050, “the shared vision of living in harmony with nature is fulfilled,” according to the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity.
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