Time to protect the ocean: what is an 'MPA' and why do we need them?

Jun 3, 2020

Adelie penguins stand atop ice near the French station at Dumont dâUrville in East Antarctica January 22, 2010. Russia and the Ukraine on November 1, 2013 again scuttled plans to create the world's largest ocean sanctuary in Antarctica, pristine waters rich in energy and species such as whales, penguins and vast stocks of fish, an environmentalist group said. The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources wound up a week-long meeting in Hobart, Australia, considering proposals for two "marine protected areas" aimed at conserving the ocean wilderness from fishing, drilling for oil and other industrial interests. Picture taken January 22, 2010. To match story ANTARCTIC-ENVIRONMENT/ REUTERS/Pauline Askin (ANTARCTICA - Tags: ENVIRONMENT POLITICS ANIMALS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - GM1E9B11JXC01

Marine protected areas are part of a global strategy to save the ocean. Image: REUTERS/Pauline Askin

Jane Lubchenco

Deputy Director, Climate and the Environment, The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Our Impact

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Ocean is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Ocean

Have you read?

Graphic Guide to MPAs

Not all MPAs are created equal Image: Graphic Guide to MPAs

Discover

What's the World Economic Forum doing about the ocean?

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

More on Ocean
See all

1:37

Dominica pioneers world's first sperm whale reserve

How COP28 can help accelerate research around the ocean's carbon removal potential

Sam Zak and Brad Ack

November 17, 2023

Global warming is shaking up the ocean, literally

Richard Aster

November 15, 2023

The world has lost 14% of its coral reefs since 2009. Investing in a blue economy gives us a shot at saving the rest

Francis Staub and Yabanex Batista

November 9, 2023

Coral offspring may be more resilient to heat stress, study finds

Cristen Hemingway Jaynes

October 23, 2023

2:33

This Italian company created the first underwater Wi-Fi