10% of the ocean now protected. We have four years to triple it

The international community has reached a significant milestone in the race to protect the world’s ocean, with 10.01% of marine areas now officially designated as protected or conserved. But conservationists are clear about one thing – celebration must be tempered by urgency.

The milestone, confirmed this month through an update to the World Database on Protected and Conserved Areas, represents a considerable leap forward. In 2024, just 8.6% of ocean and coastal areas globally sat within documented protected zones. Over the past two years alone, roughly five million square kilometres of ocean – an area larger than the European Union – have been brought under formal protection.

And yet the scale of what remains undone is stark. Under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, agreed at the Convention on Biodiversity in December 2022, governments collectively committed to protecting 30% of the Earth’s land and seas by 2030.

To reach that target, the area of protected and conserved ocean will need to triple within the next four years.

Neville Ash, Director of UNEP-WCMC, said: “We all depend on the ocean for our survival; over half of the world’s oxygen is produced by life in the ocean. The great strides at the national level over the past two years to protect more than 10% of the marine realm is therefore a moment for celebration. But reaching this milestone is a reminder of how much work there is still to do.

“The coverage of protected and conserved areas at sea still needs to triple by 2030 and it is critical that both new and existing areas are managed effectively to deliver positive outcomes for people and nature.”