Only a third of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the world are subject to high or full protection, likely to preserve biodiversity and increase fish biomass, according to a study published Thursday in the journal “Conservation Letters “.
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The planet must improve the supervision of its marine protected areas. These natural sites aim to preserve ocean ecosystems. But only a minority are effective in fulfilling this role, indicates an international study in which the CNRS participated. These American, French and Portuguese researchers were interested in the 100 largest marine areas in the world, which represent 90% of the total of these protected areas. Their calculations are formal, only a third of these natural marine parks allow for the long-term conservation of ecosystems, and therefore also of the services they provide to human societies. Their work appeared Thursday May 9 in the journal Conservation Letters.
This situation is mainly explained by very vague supervision rules. Certain areas only exist on paper. They are declared internationally, but do not really exist. The same thing happens outside the perimeter. These scientists also calculated that a quarter of marine protected areas are devoid of regulation and management. Furthermore, a third of them authorize industrial activities that contribute to the decline of marine species, such as large-scale fishing, bottom trawling or even mining.
Prioritize the level of protection
To do better in the future, this research team is calling for stricter application of the international standards that govern these marine areas, because their number has quadrupled since the 2000s, but without the specifications being the same everywhere. . In the future, we should prioritize quality over quantity: the level of protection in these marine areas, rather than their number.
An issue that is all the more important given that in 2022 during the Biodiversity COP in Montreal, all States have committed to protecting 30% of the planet’s oceans by 2030. However, currently if in the light of this work , we only consider a third of the marine areas in which biodiversity is truly protected, this corresponds to only 2.6% of the surface of the world’s oceans.
