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Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) management usually involves bringing multiple stakeholders together, to construct policy-relevant research programs and science-based tools for adaptive management. Here, we present the conclusions of a transdisciplinary workshop that aimed at reviewing experiences in the co-design of EBM research in MPAs. We find that MPAs represent powerful instruments for conducting real-world experiments, de facto acting as living labs in support of ocean governance.

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Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) support globally distinct reef fish populations, which exhibit differences between the remote oceanic islands and continental coast. While oceanic island MPAs typically support large abundances of sharks and large predatory teleost (bony) fishes, coastal MPAs show increasing signs of depletion. We deployed stereo-Baited Remote Underwater Video systems (stereo-BRUVs) to assess reef fish community structure across seven MPAs in the region.

COP30 has come and gone, leaving behind a familiar mix of new commitments and renewed political promises. But amid the declarations of progress, one issue that received almost backhanded attention is the quiet abandonment of conservation projects after their high-profile launches.

New research suggests that the rapid expansion of protected areas worldwide is giving a misleading picture of progress, with biodiversity continuing to decline inside many sites designated for protection.

The State of International 30x30 Funding report released December 2025 has called for a fundamental shift in how conservation is financed, urging governments and donors to prioritise long-term, predictable funding for management, enforcement and restoration.

The Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework calls for rapid global expansion of protected areas in response to ongoing biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation1. One of its strongest selling points is the benefits protected areas provide to adjacent human communities2,3. However, little attention has been paid to how policy and management can support such benefits.

Effective area-based conservation is central in global efforts to reverse marine biodiversity loss and safeguard ecosystem functioning. Here, we identify five key opportunities to maximize conservation potential as nations progress towards the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 2030 area-based management targets. These include enhancing accountability, elevating conservation in spatial planning, implementing adaptive management, coordinating conservation efforts across scales, and reconciling design with expected outcomes.

A quarter of a century after its publication, the biodiversity hotspot concept remains one of the most cited and influential frameworks in conservation science. But its real-world impact is poorly documented in peer-reviewed literature, which hinders the development of new approaches for prioritizing conservation action.

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Area-based conservation has long been a cornerstone of efforts to conserve species and habitats, safeguard and enhance nature’s contributions to people, 1and improve the resilience of land and seascapes to climate change (Zeng et al. 2022; Brodie et al. 2023; Duncanson et al. 2023; Nowakowski et al. 2023; Cannizzo et al. 2024).

Plant taxonomy underpins biodiversity research and conservation, but global disparities in training and resources hinder progress, especially in biodiversity- rich regions. Through a global survey of taxonomists and trainers, we reveal that 48% of countries have fewer than ten active plant taxonomists and that there are stark regional gaps in access to basic tools and infrastructure. A 'limi-