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Protected areas are a critical component of efforts to reverse biodiversity loss by 2050. In the ocean, free-driftingfish aggregating devices (dFADs) are released in large numbers by industrial purse seine fishing companies tohelp catch tuna. These devices can enter marine protected areas (MPAs) undetected, potentially leading to wildlifeentanglement, plastic pollution, and habitat degradation. Here we investigate processes by which dFADs maycompromise MPA objectives and assess the burden they put on existing MPAs.

Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework aims to increase global protected and conserved area coverage to at least 30% by 2030. The impact on people, whether positive or negative, will depend on the social context of additional areas and how they are governed and managed. Here, we show that Target 3 could affect large and socially diverse populations under different implementation scenarios. Nearly half the human population lives within 10 km of areas included in a scenario maximising biodiversity representation.

Over the past two decades, there has been a growing global interest in understanding and demonstrating the effectiveness of protected areas (PAs) and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) which collectively are referred to as protected and conserved areas (PCAs). The need to go beyond coverage targets and understand whether PCAs are delivering conservation outcomes was already recognized in the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Aichi Target 11, which highlighted that PCAs must be “effectively and equitably managed” (CBD 2011).

This report was produced by the Adrienne Arsht Community-Based Resilience Solutions Initiative at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and authored by Dr. Vanessa Constant and Dr. Ana Spalding.

A landmark global study has identified more than 165,000 square kilometres of coral reefs across 71 countries with the strongest potential to survive a warming world – tripling previous estimates and offering a rare note of hope for one of the ocean’s most threatened ecosystems.

The reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) is a highly mobile pelagic marine ray found throughout the tropical and subtropical waters of the Indo-Pacific, but investigation into their behavior and ecology within Papua New Guinea has not been previously undertaken. Furthermore, the home range, dispersal characteristics, and inter-seasonal fine-scale habitat use of this species is limited.

ndonesia’s fisheries are vast, worth billions of dollars and sustaining millions of people. They are also under threat from overfishing, bottom trawling, destructive fishing practices, mangrove conversion, and a changing climate. Local governance matters in combatting these issues. We see this in the recovery of reefs and the return of life to coastal areas managed by local people in West Kalimantan where my organisation works. These fish and crustaceans spill over into adjacent waters, benefiting even more fishers.

Perched on the bow of an aluminum landing craft, Anne Cohen gazed a few yards ahead of the vessel toward a yellow robot gliding across the emerald Majuro lagoon. The unmanned surface vehicle, called Yellowfin, was quickly becoming one of the coral researcher’s most dependable guides in these Central Pacific waters.

Mangrove forests are coastal habitats that serve as nurseries for economically important fisheries. Natural disturbances such as cyclones and shore erosion, together with aquaculture, palm plantation, and rice paddy expansion, have led to global declines in mangrove forest cover, spurring national and international pledges to restore it. Zhang et al. created a 30-meter-resolution annual dataset from satellite imagery to assess how mangrove occurrence and canopy cover have changed from 1984 to 2023.

Last month, the world marked the International Day of Biological Diversity at an extraordinary moment when political will, global targets, funding, and capacity are aligned to scale up protected and conserved areas globally.