Ocean protection passes 10% after an expansion larger than the EU

An area of ocean larger than the European Union entered protected or conserved areas in the two years to April 2026. The expansion covered around five million square kilometres, lifting global coverage to 10.01%.

The UN Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre reports that milestone from national records and other conservation data. It reaches the 10% goal countries had set for 2020, six years late.

Designation is a starting point. The centre warns that some protected areas remain poorly managed or allow damaging activities. Reaching the newer 30% target by 2030 will require more coverage, resources and effective protection.

There is now another route forward. Oceanographic reported in September that the High Seas Treaty had passed 100 parties. In force since January, it provides a framework for creating protected areas beyond national waters, although implementation still lies ahead.

The gains already recorded show countries can expand conservation across vast areas. Making those protections work, while extending them into the high seas, gives that progress somewhere practical to go next.

Sources

• UNEP-WCMC — World reaches milestone for nature: 10% of ocean now officially protected
• Oceanographic — 100 countries in: High Seas Treaty nears universal ratification