30x30 Ocean Action Plan 2025

30x30 Ocean Action Plan15 14 EXISTING MECHANISMS FOR OCEAN PROTECTION Global ocean governance relies on a complex web of legal instruments, governance frameworks, and institutional mechanisms operating across national and international scales. While significant progress has been made in establishing area-based management tools (ABMTs), including marine protected areas (MPAs), and identifying other effective area- based conservation measures (OECMs), current systems remain fragmented, with gaps in vision, plans, implementation of adequate measures, enforcement, and equity. This section outlines the foundational legal and policy instruments that underpin marine protection today and examines how they contribute to achieving the Kunming- Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) 30x30 target. The global legal framework for ocean protection is anchored in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which entered into force in 1994, and established rules governing use of the global ocean and its resources. As a framework convention, UNCLOS grants states the obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment, including, among others, measures for the protection and preservation of rare or fragile ecosystems, the habitat of depleted, threatened or endangered species, and other forms of marine life.9,10 These provisions apply to all maritime zones within and beyond areas of national jurisdiction. Additionally, beyond defining the boundaries of the different maritime zones and whose jurisdiction they fall within, UNCLOS sets out several duties, such as the duty for states to cooperate either directly or through competent organisations for the protection and preservation of the marine environment.11 UNCLOS therefore forms the legal backbone for marine environmental protection and provides the basis for national and international collaboration to achieve marine conservation goals. UNCLOS’ general obligations to protect and preserve the marine environment are complemented by other relevant instruments, including the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), with respect to the conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity. As a legally binding treaty with near-universal participation, the CBD provides both the mandate and mechanisms, such as the GBF, for Parties, individually or collectively, to translate broad environmental obligations into concrete, measurable commitments. Together, UNCLOS, the Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) when it enters into force, and the CBD (among others) form a complementary framework for global marine biodiversity protection, with the CBD, through the GBF, providing the strategic direction and measurable targets, such as 30x30, that are essential for driving coordinated and effective marine biodiversity conservation worldwide.The ‘Constitution for the Ocean’ Photo: Raul_Mellado / Envato Elements