Defra: “The UK government has set out its marine commitments to mark World Ocean Day, as it advances its role as a global leader in marine protection both domestically and internationally.” Click here.

Eighty countries from all corners of the world – from India to Guyana, South Korea to Austria – have pledged to support the ‘30by30’ commitment which is being championed by the UK-led Global Ocean Alliance and the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, co-chaired by the UK, Costa Rica and France, signing up to an international target to protect at least 30 per cent of the world’s ocean by 2030.

This milestone follows a successful meeting of the G7 Climate and Environment ministers, during which all members agreed to champion the global ‘30×30’ target to conserve or protect at least 30 per cent of the world’s land and at least 30 per cent of the world’s ocean by 2030, as well as committing to ‘30×30’ domestically.

Blaise Bullimore: Welcome news indeed, albeit the UK is rather late to the party.  The government’s now laboured claim, reiterated by Environment Secretary George Eustice, that: “The UK is a global leader in marine protection, and we are leading the way internationally to deliver healthy and sustainable seas” is difficult to accept at face value given the UK’s track record with MPAs to date – and which is ironically undermined by the Government’s associated HPMPA announcement which is only now proposing to “trial” a small handful of “pilot” HPMAs.  It all seems painfully slow.

An ‘Ocean Literacy’ survey by Defra and the Ocean Conservation Trust (OCT) (click here), also released to mark World Oceans Day, finds that 94% of people in England and Wales believe the fate of oceans and humans is inextricably linked, which suggests that marine protection action could well be welcomed by the public.  Reported by The Guardian under the headline “Public grasps threat to ocean even as leaders fail to meet targets, poll finds”, the survey measured public awareness, attitudes, knowledge of threats and behaviours related to the marine environment and ocean climate change. Click here for the OCT overview and here for the full report. “We hope this survey will help shape future policies as the UK puts nature at the heart of its G7 and COP26 Presidencies and is championing and driving forward the protection of at least 30% of the ocean by 2030 through the Global Ocean Alliance”.