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Protecting the global ocean for biodiversity, food and climate

Nature volume 592, pages 397–402 (2021)Cite this article

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Matters Arising to this article was published on 20 September 2023

Matters Arising to this article was published on 10 May 2023

Matters Arising to this article was published on 06 July 2022

An Author Correction to this article was published on 08 April 2021

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Abstract

The ocean contains unique biodiversity, provides valuable food resources and is a major sink for anthropogenic carbon. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are an effective tool for restoring ocean biodiversity and ecosystem services1,2, but at present only 2.7% of the ocean is highly protected3. This low level of ocean protection is due largely to conflicts with fisheries and other extractive uses. To address this issue, here we developed a conservation planning framework to prioritize highly protected MPAs in places that would result in multiple benefits today and in the future. We find that a substantial increase in ocean protection could have triple benefits, by protecting biodiversity, boosting the yield of fisheries and securing marine carbon stocks that are at risk from human activities. Our results show that most coastal nations contain priority areas that can contribute substantially to achieving these three objectives of biodiversity protection, food provision and carbon storage. A globally coordinated effort could be nearly twice as efficient as uncoordinated, national-level conservation planning. Our flexible prioritization framework could help to inform both national marine spatial plans4 and global targets for marine conservation, food security and climate action.

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Fig. 1: Global conservation priorities.
Fig. 2: Co-benefits of protection.
Fig. 3: Prioritizing multiple objectives given unknown preferences.
Fig. 4: National contributions to biodiversity conservation and coordinated implementation.

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Data availability

The underlying data used in this study are available from the sources listed in the Supplementary Information.

Code availability

The R code that supports the findings of this study is available at https://github.com/emlab-ucsb/ocean-conservation-priorities.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the National Geographic Society and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. D.M. was supported by the French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pristine Seas, National Geographic Society, Washington, DC, USA

    Enric Sala, Juan Mayorga, Alan M. Friedlander & Whitney Goodell

  2. Environmental Market Solutions Lab, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Juan Mayorga, Darcy Bradley, Reniel B. Cabral, Christopher Costello & Steven D. Gaines

  3. Department of Watershed Sciences and Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA

    Trisha B. Atwood & Audra Hinson

  4. IFREMER, Unité Halieutique de Manche et Mer du Nord, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France

    Arnaud Auber

  5. Changing Ocean Research Unit, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    William Cheung & Juliano Palacios-Abrantes

  6. Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Francesco Ferretti

  7. Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology, Kāne‘ohe, HI, USA

    Alan M. Friedlander & Whitney Goodell

  8. Evolutionary Biology and Ecology Laboratory, Albert Ludwigs University, Freiburg, Germany

    Kristin Kaschner

  9. National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Benjamin S. Halpern

  10. Quantitative Aquatics, Los Baños, The Philippines

    Kathleen Kesner-Reyes

  11. MARBEC, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Fabien Leprieur & David Mouillot

  12. The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA, USA

    Jennifer McGowan

  13. Marine Conservation Institute, Seattle, WA, USA

    Lance E. Morgan

  14. Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science (CBCS), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Hugh P. Possingham

  15. Dynamic Planet, Washington, DC, USA

    Kristin D. Rechberger

  16. Ocean Frontiers Institute, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Boris Worm

  17. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Jane Lubchenco

  18. GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany

    Cristina Garilao

Authors
  1. Enric Sala
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  2. Juan Mayorga
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Contributions

E.S., J. Mayorga, D.B., R.B.C., T.B.A., W.C., C.C., F.F., A.M.F., S.D.G., W.G., B.S.H., J. McGowan, D.M., H.P.P., K.D.R., B.W. and J.L. conceived the study and designed the prioritization framework; J. Mayorga, R.B.C., T.B.A., A.A., W.C., A.M.F., C.G., W.G., B.S.H., A.H., K.K., K.K.-R., F.L., L.E.M., D.M., J.P.-A. and B.W. provided data and/or conducted analyses; J. Mayorga, D.B., R.B.C. and A.H. wrote computer code; and E.S., J. Mayorga, D.B., R.B.C., T.B.A., W.C., C.C., F.F., A.M.F., S.D.G., W.G., B.S.H., J. McGowan, L.E.M., D.M., H.P.P., K.D.R., B.W. and J.L. wrote the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Enric Sala.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Supplementary Information

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Sala, E., Mayorga, J., Bradley, D. et al. Protecting the global ocean for biodiversity, food and climate. Nature 592, 397–402 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03371-z

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