In 2022, nearly 200 countries agreed to designate 30 percent of the world's oceans as protected areas by 2030, but so far just 8.4 percent are covered.
Some $15.8 billion is needed every year to achieve the '30x30' target but only $1.2 billion is currently being spent, said a new report by a consortium of environmental groups.
This gap was "alarming" and must be redressed at the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) starting on June 9 in Nice, France, said Jonathan Kelsey from the Bloomberg Ocean Fund, which co-authored the report.
"UNOC is a critical opportunity for governments to narrow this gap with concrete actions, including... increasing financing that truly delivers on their ocean promises," he said in a statement.
Of all the UN's sustainable development goals, protecting the oceans is the least funded.
Some 90 percent of ocean conservation is financed by public money and "in the short term, governments will need to increase funding flows to meet the capital injections needed, particularly high income countries", the report said.
- Promises on paper -
Environment groups have warned against the spread of "paper parks" -- protected areas in name only that lack the resources to enforce any real conservation measures.
Less than three percent of all marine conservation areas globally are considered truly protected.
Some forbid all forms of fishing while others place no rules, or almost none, on what activities are forbidden, allowing bottom trawling and other intensive industrial operations.
The report -- co-authored by WWF, Campaign for Nature and the Marine Conservation Institute, amongst others -- said that redirecting subsidies from harmful activities could also help fill the funding gap.
For example, the $15.8 billion needed every year is just two-thirds of what the world spends on harmful fishing subsidies, it added.
"We cannot afford promises that remain on paper while our coral reefs bleach, our fisheries decline, and our coastlines wash away," Brianna Fruean from campaign group Together for the Ocean, said in a statement.
"We need real protection, now -- and we need investment that empowers communities on the frontlines of change."
France expects around 50 heads of state and government to attend the oceans conference in Nice, which runs until June 13 and is preceded by a major scientific summit.
Nations present will issue a joint declaration in support of ocean conservation but the conference is not a formal UN negotiation, and any commitments made are voluntary.
EU eyes 'leadership' role on oceans ahead of UN summit
Brussels, Belgium (AFP) June 5, 2025 -
The European Union will Thursday unveil a new roadmap on marine conservation -- addressing climate and pollution threats to biodiversity as well as challenges for coastal livelihoods -- ahead of a UN summit on preserving the world's seas.
The 27-nation bloc wants to position itself as a leader in the field and will formally launch the "European Ocean Pact" at next week's conference in the French city of Nice.
But a draft leaked last month was given short shrift by a coalition of environmental groups including Surfrider, WWF, ClientEarth and Oceana -- who saw it as largely rehashing old measures.
"While the document outlines steps towards better enforcement of existing laws," they said in a joint statement, "concrete actions to address the most pressing threats to marine life and biodiversity are currently lacking."
The draft pact acknowledges the need to boost funding to safeguard the oceans, but is light on hard commitments.
Topping the list of measures environmentalists would like to see is an immediate ban on bottom trawling in protected areas -- the subject of a string of court cases -- as well as broader steps to align fishing practices with marine protection.
On the European Commission front, officials have pushed back at the criticism -- indicating the leaked document was an interim draft and suggested stronger measures to come.
- 'Blue economy' to 'blue carbon' -
Forty percent of Europeans live within 50 kilometres (30 miles) of the coast -- though paradoxically the bloc is dependent on imports for 70 of the aquatic food it consumes, according to EU data cited in the draft.
Nevertheless, the so-called "blue economy" linked to the sea supports more than five million jobs and contributes more than 250 billion euros ($285 billion) to the bloc's gross domestic product.
As leaked, the draft pact:
-- vows to update the bloc's 2008 directive on marine environmental policy and promises a new "Blue Carbon" action plan by 2026 to monitor and extend habitats capable of storing carbon dioxide.
-- promises "dedicated attention" to small-scale fisheries and coastal communities that are economically and environmentally vulnerable when marine habitats are degraded.
-- pledges to improve use of the European Satellite Oil Monitoring Service (CleanSeaNet), which serves to alert member states to the presence of pollutants.
Between 2022 and 2023, the CleanSeaNet system identified more than 7,700 possible oil spills -- mostly in Spain, Greece and Italy -- but states acted on fewer than half of all alerts, according to the European Court of Auditors.
When they did act, states confirmed pollution in only seven percent of cases -- often because too much time had elapsed by the time inspection teams arrived on site.
- 'Clear signal' -
After unveiling its roadmap in Brussels, the EU will formally present it at the June 9-13 UN Ocean Conference (UNOC), which is set to draw some 70 heads of state and government to southern France.
The third of its kind, the UN summit seeks to build unity -- and raise 100 billion dollars in new funds -- for marine conservation, in spite of deep divergences over deep-sea mining, plastic trash and overfishing.
One of its aims is to secure the 60 ratifications needed to enact a landmark treaty to protect marine habitats outside national jurisdiction -- with 28 countries on board so far, along with the EU.
The oceans covering 70.8 percent of the globe have absorbed the vast majority of the warming caused by burning fossil fuels and shielded societies from the full impact of greenhouse gas emissions.
But there are alarming symptoms of stress: heatwaves, loss of marine life, rising sea levels, falling oxygen levels and acidification caused by the uptake of excess carbon dioxide.
The EU Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans Costas Kadis said earlier this month the bloc wanted to send "a clear signal of Europe's leadership, commitment and vision" to its partners in Nice.
"The ocean is warming. It is rising. It is acidifying. Pollution from plastics, chemicals, and noise is altering marine ecosystems," Kadis warned.
"The pressures are growing and the need for action is immediate."
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