Apr 04, 2026, 07:54Apr 04, 2026, 07:54
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) sees an important milestone reached in the global protection of the oceans: ten percent of the oceans have now been designated as protected areas, the organization announced in Nairobi.
Ten percent of the oceans are now designated as protected areas.Image: keystone
However, the global community is still a long way from the goal of protecting 30 percent of the oceans by 2030.
In purely mathematical terms, an area roughly the size of the Indian Ocean is still missing, writes UNEP. In addition, it was originally planned to reach the target of ten percent protected areas as early as 2020.
Oceans are oases of biodiversity
“The oceans are oases of biodiversity that provide food, resources and livelihoods for millions of people and are crucial for the survival and health of humanity,” said Grethel Aguilar, Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), explaining the importance of global ocean protection.
Major gaps in the protection of international waters
According to a UN report from 2025, important progress has been made in recent years, particularly in marine protection. However, most of the measures concerned national waters of the Member States. A challenge therefore remains to protect the international waters on the high seas, which make up the majority of the world’s oceans with a share of more than 60 percent. But according to the UN report, only 1.6 percent of this area is designated as a protected area.
Control of protective provisions is rare
Another problem: Many marine protected areas are not “actively managed” – that is, there is no control over whether protection regulations are being adhered to, or there are no patrols like in nature reserves on land.
The UN High Seas Treaty came into force in January, the first international agreement focused on protecting biodiversity in the oceans. It is about protecting marine life on the high seas and in the deep sea – i.e. those areas of the ocean that lie outside the national sovereignty of individual countries. The treaty, which member states have been negotiating for nearly 20 years, also provides a legal framework to promote the sustainable use of marine resources and the fair sharing of benefits from the genetic material found in deep-sea species. (sda/dpa)