As global leaders head to the U.N. Biodiversity Conference (COP16) , a new report has issued a stark warning: The world is falling short of its pledge to protect 30 percent of the ocean by 2030.

The “30×30” target, agreed at the COP15 UN Biodiversity Conference in 2022, is the most ambitious conservation commitment ever made. However, the report finds that the global marine area under some form of protection has increased by just 0.5% since then. At that rate of progress, just 9.7% of the ocean will be protected by 2030.

National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans

Ahead of the COP16 conference, countries are expected to submit their revised and updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs) to achieve the 30×30 target and other commitments under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted at COP15 in 2022 under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). As of 23 September 2024, just 19 countries and the EU had submitted NBSAPs with national marine biodiversity targets to the CBD Secretariat.

‘Blue washing’

The report warns that the broad definition of MPAs is inconsistently applied by countries, leaving scope for “blue washing”. Many MPAs allow the continuation of activities which the report authors say are incompatible with effective biodiversity conservation such as industrial-scale fishing and harmful fishing methods, oil and gas extraction, mining, dredging, and dumping. The report sats that where countries state the goal of high or full protection, the MPA may not be implemented or sufficiently resourced in a way that is likely to achieve this.

The report is based on analysis led by the Marine Conservation Institute. They assessed nearly 90% of the global MPA area and found that just 2.8% is implemented and “fully” or “highly” protected – the levels defined as “effective” protection by a global standard called The MPA Guide.

UK, Australia and France among those to have designated 30% of their waters.

The report reveals that:

• Just 14 countries have designated more than 30% of their waters as protected areas, including UK (68%);  Australia (48%); Germany (45%);  France (33%); and the Netherlands (32%).
• Just two countries have been found likely to have effectively protected more than 30% of their waters, Palau (78%) and the UK (39%). Over 90% of the UK’s MPAs are in its overseas territories, such as the Pitcairn Islands, Tristan da Cunha, and South Georgia.

Feature based protection

The report highlights the UK as an example of the gap between designating areas and what the authors see as protecting them effectively: while 47% of the UK’s domestic waters (excluding Overseas Territories) are in MPAs, less than 1% has been assessed as likely to be effective. This is largely because only specific features or species are protected, not the entire MPA sites.

In a foreword to the report, John Kerry, former US Secretary of State and José María Figueres, Former President of Costa Rica, said “Protecting and conserving at least 30% of the world’s ocean is vital to safeguard marine biodiversity and the billions of people who depend on it for their livelihoods and food security.”

The full report,  ‘On track or off course? Assessing progress toward the 30×30 target in the ocean’, is available online.