We cannot tackle climate change without including large-scale ocean protection. Protecting oceans alone won’t solve the Climate Crisis, but Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) make our oceans more resilient to climate change.

In 2018 Lewis Pugh swam the length of the English Channel to call for 30% of our oceans to be protected by 2030. At the end of the swim, then Environment Minister Michael Gove was on Dover Beach to congratulate Lewis, and told him that he would support our 30×30 call. One month later the UK became the first major economy to pledge this commitment at the United Nations.

What followed was the biggest conservation drive in history, with over 100 nations committing to 30×30 in the next year. In December 2022, with the signing of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), all nations committed to conserving at least 30% of the world’s lands, inland waters, coastal areas and oceans, with emphasis on areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

The High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC for N&P) drives 30×30 action on land and in the ocean, while the Global Ocean Alliance (GOA) focuses exclusively on ocean protection. Both push for stronger action within the GBF.

Never forgetting that, as the original custodians of land and water, Indigenous peoples and first nations communities are an integral part of any protection process.