As global momentum builds around protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030, a critical question remains: how much of this protection is truly effective?

Natalie Fox from RISE UP spoke with Marine Conservation Institute to explore how their work is helping ensure marine protection delivers real benefits for biodiversity and the communities that depend on the ocean.

In this conversation, they share insights on what makes marine protected areas effective and what it will take to turn global commitments into lasting impact.

To begin, can you tell us a bit about Marine Conservation Institute and its role in protecting the ocean?

Marine Conservation Institute is a science-based nonprofit dedicated to securing durable and lasting protection for the most important places in the ocean. Our mission is to safeguard ocean biodiversity by advancing effective marine protected areas and ensuring conservation commitments translate into real protection for marine life.

Across all of our initiatives, protecting biodiversity is a central priority. We work with governments, scientists, and partners around the world to identify critical ecosystems, strengthen conservation policy, and support effective management of marine protected areas. By combining science, data, and collaboration, Marine Conservation Institute helps ensure that ocean protection efforts deliver effective and measurable outcomes for biodiversity, and meaningfully contribute to the global target of “30×30”, protecting at least 30 percent of the ocean by 2030.

One of your flagship tools is the Marine Protection Atlas. Can you explain what it is and how different groups use it?

The Marine Protection Atlas (MPAtlas) was launched in 2012 and has become the leading global platform for tracking marine protected areas (MPAs) that evaluates both quality and quantity of protection. Utilizing a scientific framework developed by marine conservation experts, The MPA Guide, MPAtlas categorizes MPAs based on their Stage of Establishment and Level of Protection, adding necessary nuance to global metrics to more accurately reflect the likely conservation outcomes of protection. Both the open-access dataset and interactive platform work to help governments, nonprofits, academics, and the greater conservation community understand meaningful progress toward 30×30 and shape the conversations, processes, and decision-making necessary to continue working toward a 30% that truly delivers effective benefits for biodiversity.

There’s growing attention on not just the number of MPAs, but how well they work. How does Marine Conservation Institute help define and promote effective protection? 

Many marine protected areas exist on paper but lack the design, management, protections, compliance, and capacity needed to protect biodiversity in practice. Marine Conservation Institute has led the effort to synthesize the extensive body of MPA effectiveness science to inform real-world MPA implementation through its Blue Parks initiative.

The Blue Park Standard is a comprehensive science-based standard for MPAs that was co-developed with over 150 scientists through scientific literature reviews, workshops, consultations, and the ongoing review of the Blue Parks Science Council. It includes criteria related to everything we know about effective MPAs, covering (1) location and design for biodiversity, (2) equitable and durable governance, (3) protection from harmful activities, (4) evidence-based management planning, (5) comprehensive compliance strategy, and (6) capacity for implementation.

To incentivize governments and communities to implement effective MPAs, we launched a prestigious award for those that achieve the Blue Park Standard. Every year, we accept nominations for outstanding MPAs from around the world. The team at Marine Conservation Institute synthesizes information from MPA documentation, interviews with managers and their partners, scientific literature, and solicited comments from community members and regional experts to produce a comprehensive Blue Park evaluation report. The Blue Parks Science Council assesses the extent to which each nominee meets the Blue Park Standard and makes the award decisions. 

The Blue Park Awards highlight some of the world’s most successful MPAs globally. When will the winners of the 2026 awards be announced?

Because the Blue Park Awards recognize the world’s best MPAs, they demonstrate models of successful marine conservation and remind us that MPAs are a powerful tool to revitalize vulnerable marine ecosystems and recover wildlife. They have been announced annually since 2017 – to date, the Blue Parks Network includes 34 Blue Parks across 23 countries and First Nations covering 3.5 million square kilometers of ocean area.

The 2026 Blue Park Awards will be announced at the 11th Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, Kenya, from June 16–18, 2026! 

Partnerships are key to conservation. Can you share an example of how working with local communities has strengthened marine protection?

Through Blue Spark collaborations, Marine Conservation Institute partners with local leaders, NGOs, and governments to strengthen marine protected areas and meet the Blue Park Standard. We provide technical support, capacity building, and targeted resources to help these efforts translate into effective, durable protection. To date, two Blue Spark collaborations have earned Blue Park Awards. The whole network of Blue Parks and Blue Sparks is supported through collaborative capacity-building opportunities like this year’s COMPASS communications workshop, and small grants that help MPA managers improve their conservation outcomes.

One example is in Inhambane Bay, Mozambique, where Marine Conservation Institute collaborates with the local NGO Ocean Revolution Moçambique to strengthen the Inhambane Bay Community Conservation Network of twelve community-managed marine areas that protect critical seagrass and mangrove habitats. This partnership focuses on supporting local stewardship. In 2024, we secured funding for a patrol boat, enabling local guardians to monitor and protect the network.

Looking beyond national waters, how is your team engaging with the BBNJ Agreement or High Seas Treaty to support effective protection at a global scale?

The Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, also referred to as the “High Seas Treaty,” provides–for the first time–an international framework to protect biodiversity in the two-thirds of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction. As the largest ecosystem on earth, the high seas harbor some of the planet’s most extraordinary and least understood life, from deep-sea seamounts to the ocean’s twilight zone.

A major objective of the BBNJ Agreement is to establish a representative network of area-based management tools (ABMTs), including MPAs, to protect critical high seas ecosystems. While the treaty provides the framework for MPA proposals, their effectiveness in meaningfully conserving marine biodiversity is not guaranteed, making robust standards critical–especially as these protected areas represent our greatest opportunity to reach 30×30.

Marine Conservation Institute’s approach combines long-standing partnerships with international coalitions–such as the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition and the High Seas Alliance–with our expertise in tracking and advocating for effective MPAs. Through our High Seas Protection Portal, we hope to equip those working on BBNJ MPA proposals with a clear picture of existing management, key biodiversity, and threats, ultimately informing pathways to increased protection in priority areas. Drawing on The MPA Guide and The Blue Park Standard, we aim to track and assess BBNJ MPA proposals and advocate for a high standard of MPAs that effectively conserve biodiversity, are equitably governed, and deliver lasting benefits to biodiversity, climate, and people to ensure the BBNJ Agreement fulfils its historic promise.

Learn more about Marine Conservation Institute, who are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year: www.marine-conservation.org

The views in this article may not necessarily represent the views of other RISE UP network members or RISE UP as a whole. It is only through open dialogue and a diversity of ideas that we will arrive at the solutions necessary to restore Ocean health.