Our ocean is being hit hard by global warming. Marine heatwaves devastate coral reefs, triggering the largest global mass laundering event ever recorded last year, as ocean wildlife – already struggling with overfishing – faces growing challenges. New research shows a 56% drop in populations of marine species since 1970. Simply put, our blue ocean flashes red.

In this context, the Biden-Harris government announcement of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, off the central coast of California, United States, is a welcome move. The 4,500-square-mile sanctuary will be the third largest in the United States and, for the first time, led by indigenous people, whose management is essential to preservation. biodiversity. Crucially, the sanctuary will prevent the expansion of offshore oil drilling.

Protecting our oceans is more than a conservation measure: it’s a lifeline. Well-managed, highly protected marine areas (MPAs) that prohibit or seriously restrict industrial fishing and other damaging activities help restore ecosystems, ensuring food security and livelihoods for the billions of people who depend on healthy oceans . Only in these highly protected MPAs can marine life return to its full potential and provide 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 impoverished areas.

But what is worrying is that a new report from a consortium of NGO partners funded by the Bloomberg Ocean Fund found that only 8.3% of the world’s oceans are designated as MPAs. Worse, most MPAs are either protected only in theory or so weakly regulated that significant harmful activities like bottom trawling and fossil fuel extraction are allowed to continue in these so-called protected spaces. In fact, less than 3% of the world’s oceans are highly or fully protected.

This comes two years after the world’s nations committed to achieving the “30×30” goal as part of the Global Framework for Biodiversity Kunming-Montreal: conserve 30% of Earth’s land, fresh water and oceans by 2030. Now, for the first time since 2022, governments will have the opportunity to assess progress towards 30×30, during their meeting for COP16 of the United Nations 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 significantly expanded ocean protection. If the current pace continues, only 9.7% of the oceans will be protected by 2030.

The data also reveals a worrying trend: only 14 countries have designated 30% or more of their waters as protected. Even in the UK, which has protected 68% of its territorial waters, more than 90% of its MPAs are in overseas territories – places like the Pitcairn Islands and Tristan da Cunha – almost uninhabited places where extractive activities are limited and economic pressures are less immediate. These remote protections have enormous global value, but they are not enough. Less than 1% of the UK’s inland waters are protected in no-take zones. Protection efforts must be extended to national waters and areas with active populations and fisheries, where the balance between conservation and livelihoods is more complex.

The North must lead by example. It must restore degraded ecosystems in its own waters and invest in conservation efforts abroad, financially and through capacity building. This is an ethical imperative because industrialized countries have sucked fish out of the waters of low-income countries around the world, with little local benefit.

Crucially, 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. Each dollar invested in a well-managed MPA produces on average $10 of economic output.

To achieve 30×30 in the ocean and guarantee its long-term environmental and financial benefits, 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 area-based effective conservation measures (AMCE). We need to establish networks of MPAs that provide ecological connectivity, for example allowing salmon to migrate between freshwater rivers and across vast expanses of ocean. With two-thirds of the oceans outside national jurisdiction, ratification of the Convention by countries High Seas Treaty is a top priority to enable the creation of MPAs in international waters.

Second, designating MPAs is not enough: they must be actively implemented and managed. Governments should prioritize increasing the coverage of “highly” or “fully” protected MPAs in their countries’ contributions to the 30×30 global goal. The Azores recently set an excellent example when its leaders approved legislation to create 287,000 square kilometers of marine protected areas – the largest network of MPAs in Europe. As a result, 15% of Azores waters are now designated as fully protected and 15% as highly protected.

Third, developed countries must provide the necessary financial support to help developing countries protect their waters. In 2022, they committed to providing at least $20 billion per year by 2025 and $30 billion by 2030 – this support has not yet materialized. This is also essential to maintaining the legitimacy of the Global Biodiversity Framework.

Fourth, governments must standardize data collection to track progress against the 30×30 goal. This is essential for tracking progress against the 30×30 goal and holding countries accountable for their promises.

Finally – and this is essential – governments should recognize knowledge and restore rights of indigenous peoples. It makes sense to put coastal conservation management in the hands of local communities. Where government resources can be useful, they should be provided.

Protecting the oceans has never been more urgent. As leaders gather in Cali, they must ensure that “protecting our ocean” actually means protecting it. The 30×30 objective will only make sense if we protect the areas effectively, and not just on paper. Now is the time to act.

Antha Williams leads Bloomberg Philanthropies’ environmental program, while Dr. Enric Sala is a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and founder and executive director of Pristine Seas, which is a Bloomberg grantee but was not part of the NGO consortium that wrote the referenced report. above, “On track or off road? Assessing progress towards the 30×30 goal in the ocean.”

Banner image: Sea turtle swimming off the coast of Kihei, Hawai’i. Image courtesy of Mitch Meyers via Unsplash.

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