Oceans Hit 10 Percent Historic Shield Milestone

(MENAFN) More than a tenth of the world's oceans have been placed under formal protection for the first time in recorded history, according to a landmark joint study — but scientists warn the achievement arrives years late and that the steeper challenge of shielding 30% by 2030 remains a formidable task.

The study, published jointly by the UN Environment Program World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), puts current formal ocean protection at 10.01% — a figure hailed as a watershed moment for marine conservation. Global ocean and coastal coverage stood at just 8.6% as recently as 2024, meaning roughly 5 million square kilometers were added to protected zones over the past two years alone.

A Milestone Six Years in the Making
The achievement is significant — but its timing is not. Nations had committed under the Aichi Biodiversity Targets to reach the 10% threshold by 2020. That deadline passed unmet, and the milestone was only formally crossed in April 2026, a full six years behind schedule.

The 2024 Protected Planet Report found that the most meaningful conservation gains since 2020 have occurred in ocean environments, though the bulk of progress has been confined to waters within national jurisdictions.

One-Third of the Way to 2030
Neville Ash, director of UNEP-WCMC, told Anadolu that the World Database on Protected and Conserved Areas (WDPCA) serves as the official tracking instrument for Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) — which mandates that 30% of the planet's lands and waters fall within protected areas or Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) by 2030.

"April 2026 was the first time ocean coverage exceeded 10%. Reaching the 10% milestone means the world has achieved a target that had a deadline of 2020, and means we are one third of the way towards the current ambition of 30% of the ocean to be protected by 2030," he said.

To close that remaining two-thirds gap, the world would need to designate an additional area roughly equivalent in size to the entire Indian Ocean — an undertaking without modern precedent.

Ash cautioned that raw coverage figures only capture part of the picture. Protected zones must be ecologically significant, well-connected, and actively managed — criteria that are particularly difficult to satisfy in marine environments, where connectivity between protected areas is limited and data on management effectiveness remains sparse.

He highlighted a stark imbalance in current coverage: while national waters enjoy relatively robust protection at 23.2%, a mere 1.7% of ocean territory beyond national jurisdiction falls within any protected designation. "Expanding protected areas reduces pressures on the ocean and helps biodiversity to recover," he said.

Ash also underscored that Target 3 is just one component of a broader 23-target, four-goal framework, and that genuine ocean health recovery demands full implementation of the entire Kunming-Montreal agenda — not simply an expansion of designated boundaries.

Oceans as a Climate Buffer
Beyond biodiversity, Ash outlined the critical role healthy marine ecosystems play in moderating the climate crisis. Functioning ocean environments absorb and store atmospheric carbon dioxide, while coastal habitats provide natural barriers against the intensifying weather events tied to global warming.

"Healthy coastal ecosystems, such as reefs and mangroves, also play an important role in reducing the impacts on coastal communities of extreme weather events associated with climate change," he said.

On the path to expanding protections in international waters, Ash pointed to the newly established High Seas Treaty — formally known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) agreement — as the most consequential mechanism now available, creating for the first time a legal pathway to designate marine protected areas in waters that fall outside any single nation's control.

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