Sea States G20 2014: How much of the seas are G20 nations really protecting?

Marine protected area (MPA) coverage is commonly used as a metric of progress for the marine conservation movement. Reporting the extent to which governments are contributing to global MPA targets (e.g., the IUCN World Parks Congress recently called for a global target of 30% no-take reserve coverage) provides accountability and frames individual progress within this larger context. The various types of MPAs offer differing levels of protection. No-take marine reserves (i.e., areas strongly protected from all fishing, mining and other extraction-based activities) demonstrate the greatest benefit for the conservation of marine biodiversity and the protection of ecosystem services. Using data collected and curated at MPAtlas.org, spatial coverage of no-take reserves was compared across each of the Group of 20 (G20) countries (with the exception of the European Union). Coverage of no-take reserves and other protected areas shows significant variations among this group of nations. Despite many commitments by the G20 to protect their waters, such as agreement with the Aichi Target 11(10% of coastal and marine areas will be conserved by 2020), these nations with the greatest financial resources fall far below targets. Claims of national MPA coverage are also found to be misleading because weakly protected or poorly enforced areas are often evaluated equally with the strongest no-take marine reserves. Results show that 14 of the G20 member countries strongly protect less than 1% of their ocean area in no-take reserves. One G20 country protects just over 2%, while the remaining four protect more than 4% in no-take reserves. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd.