The international community set a global conservation target to protect at least 30% of the ocean by 2030 (“30 × 30”) to reverse biodiversity loss, including through marine protected areas (MPAs). However, varied MPAs result in significantly different conservation outcomes, making MPA coverage alone an inadequate metric. We used The MPA Guide framework to assess the the world's largest 100 MPAs by area, representing nearly 90% of reported global MPA coverage and 7.3% of the global ocean area, and analyzed the distribution of MPA quality across political and ecological regions. A quarter of the assessed MPA coverage is not implemented, and one-third is incompatible with the conservation of nature. Two factors contribute to this outcome: (1) many reported MPAs lack regulations or management, and (2) some MPAs allow high-impact activities. Fully and highly protected MPAs account for one-third of the assessed area but are unevenly distributed across ecoregions in part because some nations have designated large, highly protected MPAs in their overseas or remote territories. Indicators of MPA quality, not only coverage, are needed to ensure a global network of MPAs that covers at least 30% of the ocean and effectively safeguards representative marine ecosystems from destructive human activities.

中文翻译：

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海洋保护的质量落后于数量：应用科学框架评估海洋保护区在实现 30 x 30 目标方面的实际进展


国际社会制定了全球保护目标，即到 2030 年保护至少 30% 的海洋（“30 × 30”），以扭转生物多样性丧失的趋势，包括通过海洋保护区 (MPA) 等方式。然而，不同的海洋保护区会导致显着不同的保护结果，因此仅海洋保护区覆盖范围不足以衡量指标。我们使用MPA指南框架评估了世界上最大的100个MPA（按面积计算），占报告的全球MPA覆盖范围的近90%和全球海洋面积的7.3%，并分析了MPA质量在政治和生态区域之间的分布。评估的海洋保护区覆盖范围有四分之一未实施，三分之一与自然保护不相容。造成这一结果的因素有两个：(1) 许多报告的海洋保护区缺乏法规或管理，(2) 一些海洋保护区允许高影响力的活动。受到全面和高度保护的海洋保护区占评估面积的三分之一，但在各个生态区中分布不均，部分原因是一些国家在其海外或偏远地区指定了大型、高度保护的海洋保护区。需要海洋保护区质量指标，而不仅仅是覆盖范围，以确保全球海洋保护区网络覆盖至少 30% 的海洋，并有效保护代表性海洋生态系统免受破坏性人类活动的影响。