Blue Nature Alliance at CBD COP16: A Crucial Moment for Ocean Conservation Progress
Blog
By Claire Blanchard*
As the international community convened for the Sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Cali, Colombia, striving to implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), adopted in 2022, and find solutions to the financing conundrum, there was a strong focus on urgent ocean conservation efforts to protect biodiversity and reach the ambitious "30x30" target: protecting 30% of the planet's land and oceans by 2030, while sustainably managing the rest.
Two reports, "On track or off course – Assessing progress toward the 30x30 Target for the Ocean ," and the “Protected Planet Report 2024, ” launched at COP16, revealed that we are significantly off track in reaching the 30x30 target for the ocean. Six years away from 2030, only 8.4% of the ocean and coastal areas globally are within documented protected and conserved areas. Protected and conserved areas must more than triple in the ocean for the 30% target to be reached by 2030 - an area larger than the Indian Ocean.
Leveraging Partnerships for Large-Scale Marine Protection – Need for a New Paradigm
To accelerate our progress, we will need to adopt a new paradigm grounded in bold political leadership, passionate champions, and partnerships between governments, funders, civil society, indigenous peoples, and political leaders who must make bold decisions to fast-track progress. A paradigm where effective, passionate champions are connected to durable efforts and the inclusion of all constituencies is at the heart.
This is what the Blue Nature Alliance strives to achieve. Founded by five Core Partners—Conservation International, Pew Charitable Trusts, the GEF, the Minderoo Foundation, and the Rob Walton Foundation, with support from many others, such as the Moore Foundation—it believes we can do more together than alone. We have grown to include more than 100 partners from governments, Indigenous peoples, local communities, NGOs, and funders working to advance large-scale ocean protections and to champion the effective implementation of protected areas across the world's oceans in over 40 geographies across the globe covering over 23 million Km2of the ocean.
Despite the bleak news, these partners give us hope. At COP16, the Blue Nature Alliance celebrated our partners' bold leadership. Last month, Australia announced it would protect over 50% of its waters, with about 23% is in fully protected marine sanctuaries, by expanding the sub-Antarctic Heard and McDonald Islands, a region crucial for the world. The Regional Government of Azores has passed a legislative decree designating one of the largest MPA networks in the North Atlantic and Europe, protecting 30% of the sea around the nine islands of the Azores archipelago, including safeguarding deep-sea corals, whales, dolphins, sharks, manta rays, fish, and unique hydrothermal vent ecosystems.
We believe in strong partnerships, which is why the Blue Nature Alliance joined the 'Together for the Ocean ' campaign. It is also an official partner of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC). The HAC now has 120 governments dedicated to accelerating achieving 30x30. In fact, it was nominated for the Earthshot prize in the ocean category. The Alliance looks forward to continuing to support the work of HAC and urges the International Steering Committee, with this nomination, to deliver on the duty they have to not just work on protecting national exclusive economic zones (EEZ) but also do more together to protect global commons like the high seas, including the Southern Ocean and Salas y Gomez and Nazca Ridges.
*This article was initially posted in Claire Blanchard's LinkedIn profile. She is the Blue Nature Alliance’s Global Advocacy and Political Strategy Lead and was part of the delegation that attended CBD COP16.