The international community’s commitment to protecting at least 30% of the waters by 2030 must go beyond mere numbers and strive for quality and effectiveness, as only one-third of the largest global marine protected areas is highly protected, according to a paper published Thursday.

The analysis, carried out by the Marine Conservation Institute and published in the journal Conservation Letters, assessed the 100 largest marine protected areas (MPAs) in the world. It found that while these areas represent nearly 90% of reported global MPA coverage and 7.3% of the global ocean area, they significantly differ in quality.

MPAs are considered to play a pivotal in reaching the 30×30 targets set by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in 2022.

However, according to the scientists who penned the paper, many reported MPAs lack regulations or management, and some of them even allow high-impact activities.

“Implemented or actively managed MPAs that are fully or highly protected cover 2.6% of the global ocean, or approximately one-third of the assessed area,” the paper said. “These MPAs are expected to yield the greatest biodiversity conservation benefits.”

The marine projected areas examined in the paper were assessed according to the MPA guide, a 2021 peer-reviewed study published in Science that provided a framework for assessing the potential biodiversity benefits of these areas based on their characteristics – stage of establishment, level of protection, enabling conditions, and outcomes.

LACK OF IMPLEMENTATION

One of the key insights from the study is that there is an implementation gap between MPAs. According to the paper, one-quarter of the assessed MPA coverage remains unimplemented.

“The most common reason that MPAs failed to be classified as implemented was that they lacked enforced regulations,” the scientists wrote.

For instance, the Cook Islands and Seychelles have yet to produce management plans or final regulations for their MPAs – Marae Moana, Amirantes, and Aldabra.

Likewise, the Chagos MPA lacks implementation due to unresolved human rights issues regarding the displacement of Chagossians and their exile from the island, the study said.

“While many of the very large, and often remote, MPAs in this analysis benefit from low levels of prior use, they do require investment and capacity to enable ongoing management and avoid becoming paper parks,” the study said.

“Lack of investment risks MPAs that serve merely as geopolitical strategies to meet coverage targets and are ill-equipped to protect marine ecosystems from current and future threats.”

HIGH-IMPACT ACTIVITIES

Moreover, one-third of the assessed MPAs allow high-impact activities, undermining their conservation value.

“Even if these areas receive funding and are well staffed, they are unlikely to result in healthier oceans because they continue to legally allow harmful activities such as bottom trawling,” the study said.

“Industrial fishing is the leading driver of biodiversity loss in the ocean, resulting in extensive overfishing, biomass reduction, and destruction of the seafloor and benthic habitats by bottom-contact gears.”

Bottom trawling is widely considered one of the main threats to marine conservation, hugely damaging sea habitats by dragging heavy nets along the seabed.

Greece announced last month at the Our Ocean Conference that it would ban bottom trawling in its MPAs by 2026. But the controversial practice is still permitted in some of Europe’s protected underwater ecosystems.

“Indicators of MPA quality, not only coverage, are needed to ensure a global network of MPAs that covers at least 30% of the ocean and effectively safeguards representative marine ecosystems from destructive human activities,” the paper said.

The largest 100 MPAs located outside national jurisdictions cover only 0.9% of the global ocean, and nearly two-thirds are fully or highly protected.

Between 2023 and 2024, 89 countries have shown their commitment to ratifying the UN’s Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdictions (BBNJ) treaty to conserve marine life in areas beyond countries’ boundaries, including the high seas and the seabed. Yet, only five have formally done so – Palau, Chile, Belize, Seychelles, and Monaco – and no EU member state has finalised its ratification process yet.

According to a separate report by the WWF released Tuesday, EU countries are largely failing to protect their marine areas in the bloc’s most remote regions, with national strategies often misaligned with the European Green Deal goals.

By Giada Ferraglioni – giada@carbon-pulse.com

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