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Papua New Guinea (PNG) is home to one of the largest mangrove habitats (6% of the world’s mangrove area), which plays a crucial role in coastal protection, carbon sequestration and supporting biodiversity and livelihoods. With such an extensive mangrove cover, monitoring at scale is invaluable for sustainable mangrove management (conservation, protection and restoration).

Mangroves provide numerous ecosystem services and are increasingly recognized as a natural climate solution. As a result, multiple recent initiatives have set ambitious mangrove restoration targets. However, there has been little research estimating the costs of achieving such targets, either site by site or in aggregate. Here, we spatially model the costs of restoring mangroves globally based on reported implementation costs from 249 restoration projects in 25 countries.

This guidance aims to inform the planning, design, and implementation of new and expanded MPAs, OECMs, areas conserved by Indigenous peoples, and networks of protected and conserved areas at the community, national, and international levels. It focuses on why it is important to consider climate change in MPA1 planning, and how new areas can be established in ways that build climate resilience, adaptation, and mitigation.

Comprehensive, global, and standardized data on ocean regulations are essential to assess protection levels. They are also key to successfully measuring progress towards 30 × 30 goals. ProtectedSeas’ Navigator is a repository of regulatory and spatial data for over 21,700 unique marine managed areas globally, with summaries of restricted fishing and marine activities extracted from official regulations.

Ecosystems are characterized by interconnected structure and functions. A study published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Casey Benkwitt at Lancaster University, United Kingdom and colleagues suggests that restoring seabird populations via eradication of rats may help coral reefs by restoring nutrient connectivity in disrupted food chains.

Marine spatial planning (MSP), initially developed to address the needs of the global North, is gaining significant traction in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and is hailed as a collaborative governance instrument for managing and optimizing the allocation of ocean space. Despite its growing adoption, there has been limited attention given to what is needed for MSP to be effective and collaborative in SIDS, which is struggling with issues of fragmented ocean governance, insufficient funding, data limitations, and ad hoc stakeholder engagement.

Natural and mixed World Heritage (WH) has generally not been a success in the Oceania region, due to limited support at all levels, unrealistic expectations about what WH can and cannot deliver, and a lack of resources to support all aspects of the WH process, particularly WH site management. This report assesses the implementation of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention in Oceania in relation to natural and mixed WH sites. It outlines recommendations which will, if applied, contribute to the more effective implementation of natural WH in the Pacific region. 

The Pacific region has witnessed some of humanity's greatest achievements. It is a vibrant tapestry of diverse cultures and languages and holds immense global significance for its biodiversity and geodiversity. Despite this, it remains very poorly represented on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Ahead of the 3rd UN Ocean Conference, IUCN launches a new report which advocates for a substantial increase in resources to ensure that the heritage of Pacific Islanders is internationally recognized and fosters greater prosperity. 

BioTIME is designed especially for scientific synthesis studies with research questions about global biodiversity. We believe that data is valuable and should be made usable. Our database contains tables on species abundances across time and space, as well as important metadata about the taxa, habitat, and sampling methods. This is all made possible by our data contributors.

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Marine protected areas (MPAs) are essential for conserving marine biodiversity, ensuring sustainable fisheries, and maintaining the health of ocean ecosystems. They also provide economic and cultural benefits, including ecotourism opportunities and the preservation of livelihoods for coastal communities. However, merely establishing an MPA is generally insufficient to secure these protections and benefits.