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Marine coastal ecosystems (MCEs) provide a myriad of services on which governments, businesses, and society depend. MCEs include coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass, oyster beds and reefs, salt marshes, and sandy beaches and dunes. As of 2020, it was estimated that more than half of the world’s total gross domestic product (GDP)—around $44 trillion—depends on nature and its services (WEF 2020). The ocean economy contributes an estimated 3%–5% of global GDP (Spalding, Brumbaugh, and Landis; Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Program 2005; Ferrario et al.

Protected areas safeguard biodiversity, ensure ecosystem functioning, and deliver ecosystem services to communities. However, only ~16% of the world’s land area is under some form of protection, prompting international calls to protect at least 30% by 2030. We modeled the outcomes of achieving this 30 × 30 target for terrestrial biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, and nutrient regulation.

The draft 2018 Palau Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Policy has the Vision of: Palau enriched by healthy
forests that sustain our culture and livelihoods, expand our economy and strengthen the resilience of our island ecosystems and communities.

Coral reefs worldwide are facing impacts from climate change, overfishing, habitat destruction, and pollution. The cumulative effect of these impacts on global capacity of coral reefs to provide ecosystem services is unknown. Here, we evaluate global changes in extent of coral reef habitat, coral reef fishery catches and effort, Indigenous consumption of coral reef fishes, and coral-reef-associated biodiversity. Global coverage of living coral has declined by half since the 1950s.