For most of the last decade, ocean protection targets have been something the world consistently missed. The original deadline for protecting 10% of the seas was 2020, part of the UN's Aichi Targets, and it came and went with barely half that much water under formal protection. So when the milestone was finally confirmed this spring, it happened without much fanfare: no summit, no ceremony, just a quiet crossing of a line that had been promised for years.
In the last two years alone, an area of ocean larger than the entire European Union gained protection.
According to figures compiled by IUCN and UNEP-WCMC, 10.01% of the world's ocean is now within officially designated protected and conserved areas, up from 8.6% in 2024. In the last two years alone, roughly 5 million square kilometers of ocean gained protection, an area larger than the entire European Union. It's real, measurable progress toward the bigger 2030 target of protecting 30% of the world's land and seas.
The Hardest 20% Is Still Ahead
Several individual decisions did the heavy lifting. French Polynesia declared the world's largest marine protected area in June 2025, covering its entire exclusive economic zone, 4.8 million square kilometers, with strong local support. Indonesia and Thailand together added 284 new marine and coastal protected areas, and Pakistan protected the Miani Hor Lagoon, a key stopover for dalmatian pelicans and great black-headed gulls. "We all depend on the ocean for our survival," said Neville Ash, director of UNEP-WCMC, on the scale of what's at stake. "Over half of the world's oxygen is produced by life in the ocean."
The honest caveat is that 10% is the easy third. Another 20% needs protecting in the next four years, an area roughly the size of the Indian Ocean, and the hardest water is still untouched: the high seas, which make up more than 60% of the ocean's surface, are only 1.66% protected. Even within existing MPAs, just 1.3% have had their management effectiveness formally assessed, and plenty, especially in Europe, still permit bottom trawling. In Chile, a newly expanded protection zone was suspended by an incoming administration on its first day in office. The milestone is genuine. The next 20% is where it gets hard.
Image credit: Aerial view of healthy table coral reef