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Marine biodiversity and habitats have been heavily impacted by human activities. In the past fifty years we have witnessed rapid biodiversity loss with up to 50% of coastal habitats disappearing. Groups of marine species such as reef-forming corals, sharks and turtles include a high proportion of threatened species. These impacts undermine many of the services the ocean provides that we rely on, such as the production of food, coastal protection from storm surges, climate and water regulation, and cultural services such as tourism and recreation. Immediate action is necessary to ensure the continued the provision of these services and that marine biodiversity and habitats we enjoy today remain for future generations.
The 10th Blue paper of the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy summarizes the current status, governance, and thresholds of marine biodiversity and habitats, and identifies opportunities for action by governments, industry and the public. The authors found that areas with high biodiversity correspond to areas with high anthropogenic pressures (Explore these relationships in the first visualization below). Although, biodiversity was not related with the GDP (gross domestic product) of countries. Unexpectedly, the GDP of coastal states only slightly influences levels of marine protection declared. Higher investment capacities would be expected to correspond to increased relative protection, but this is often not the case. The study also found that there is no more effort going into protection in countries that are biodiversity rich versus biodiversity poor.
By analyzing the global marine protected areas network, it was also discovered that there is a large gap in conservation effort among countries and within the level of protection afforded to habitats as seen in Figure 2 below. There is scientific agreement that well-managed (well designed, enforced, and financed) fully protected areas can increase biodiversity and restore ecosystem function. Yet the majority of marine protected areas (MPAs) are not fully protected. This results in 30-40% of some habitats being located in MPAs (e.g. mangroves and kelp forests), but very few of these protected areas have management plans, let alone being fully or highly protected from damaging activities (Compare the different protection levels in the visualization below). It was found that a there was a very low coverage of habitats in fully protected MPAs (e.g. less than 1% of kelp forests). Countries should cooperate to reach international goals, either by improving the protection of existing MPAs, increasing the coverage of fully or highly protected MPAs and/or aiding conservation programs in less wealthy countries or regions where biodiversity and stresses on the environment are high.
The main drivers of biodiversity loss include overfishing and other damaging effects of fishing, coastal development and pollution. However, climate change is having an increasing effect, often in combination with other stressors, in diminishing the abundance and biodiversity of marine species. In the tropics, fish production could decrease up to 40%. Fisheries management reforms are required for the ocean to continue to provide for the nutritional needs of the growing human population without long-lasting biodiversity loss, habitat change, and reduced ecosystem services. Notably, few international conventions and agreements related to the marine environment and biodiversity are based on the management of species that are not fished commercially (34%) and even fewer with the protection of marine habitats (26%).
To realize the sustainable use of the ocean, significant barriers need to be overcome. We can begin to address these by improving our understanding of how marine ecosystems are changing with increased spatial data, interoperability of data and systems, and long-term monitoring. Citizen science is another avenue to promote the understanding and uptake of not only scientific results, but the vision of a healthy and productive ocean essential to bring about change in actions. Governments can work to ensure increases in well enforced and fully protected marine reserves and the financial support and mechanisms necessary for this. The implementation of ecosystem-based fisheries management and curbing of illegal practices in industrial fisheries will allow stocks to rebuild and meet the needs for food, nutrition, and livelihoods in coastal communities, whilst minimizing impacts on biodiversity. The ocean provides a large frontier of opportunities to ensure the habitats and biodiversity we are inspired by thrive.