30x30 Ocean Action Plan 2025

30x30 Ocean Action Plan43 42Embed IPLC leadership and governance systems in 30x30 delivery Secure long-term, equitable financingMake ocean data public, trusted, useful, and policy-relevant • Embed Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) as rights-holders and governance leaders in the delivery of 30x30 by aligning national ocean strategies with customary governance systems and co-management models. Support legal, cultural, and institutional frameworks that uphold IPLC authority over marine areas under their stewardship, including pathways to formally recognise customary tenure and community-conserved areas. • Establish permanent national and regional platforms for IPLC engagement in decision-making on development and conservation planning—drawing inspiration from the newly established IPLC Permanent Body under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). These platforms should provide direct, long-term funding to IPLC organisations to enable locally defined priorities, knowledge systems, and implementation approaches to shape national and global marine protection outcomes.68 They should also support effective site-level governance by co-designing MPAs and OECMs with rights- holders, establishing joint management bodies, and ensuring equitable benefit-sharing. • By the CBD’s 17th Meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP), report progress towards establishing and capitalizing permanent national and regional ocean conservation funds with clear legal mandates, transparent governance, and alignment to national climate, biodiversity, and biodiversity- inclusive blue economy strategies. This should explicitly aim to reduce overreliance on limited public budgets by mobilising blended and innovative finance as the backbone of long-term MPA and OECM funding by 2030 and beyond. These funds should unlock additional capital through environmental levies, and global instruments (e.g. GEF , GCF blue bonds, debt swaps, sovereign wealth funds), while securing dedicated and flexible funding windows to support IPLC-led protection and co-management. • Embed de-risking mechanisms—such as first-loss capital, guarantees, and insurance—to reduce barriers for private investment, while ensuring these approaches uphold principles of equity and public benefit, and do not shift disproportionate risk or cost to the public sector or vulnerable communities. These should support the development of innovative models like conservation-linked bonds and results-based finance that align capital flows with long-term ocean protection and resilience.• Make ocean data public, trusted, useful, and policy-relevant by supporting systematic and interoperable data collection, ensuring transparent curation and open access to spatial, ecological, and management data—including relevant private sector data—through global platforms (e.g. WDPA, WD-OECM, OBIS, BBNJ Clearing-House Mechanism, Global Fishing Watch, MPAtlas), and investing in tools, standards, and institutional capacity that enable decision-makers across countries to translate data into actionable insights for marine planning, science-informed design, protection, adaptability, enforcement, and surveillance. • For example, the IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas could be used as a tool to support the effective implementation of Target 3, recognising and encouraging high-quality management, equitable governance, and measurable conservation outcomes.69 • Care must be taken to establish verifiable and transparent quality assurance and quality control (QA/ QC) protocols for data collection, curation, and analysis. • Strengthen global and regional data systems that support high seas protection, including interoperable clearinghouse mechanisms, open-access science platforms, and national readiness to engage in BBNJ-related data sharing and decision processes. • Governments should invest in innovative data partnerships and technologies, AI-driven mapping tools, and automated reporting systems that make ocean data more dynamic, timely, and actionable for decision-making, compliance, and enforcement. This includes prioritising innovation in monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) systems—such as satellite analytics, AI-powered alert systems, community-based technologies, and digital platforms—that enhance cost-effective monitoring, control, and surveillance, particularly for small island developing states.Action Area 1 Enabling The Global Conditions For Success Photo: Getty Images / iStockphoto