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News: The recent UNEP reports state that the world still needs to protect an area almost the size of the Indian Ocean by 2030 to reach the 30% target under the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF).
About Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF)
- It was adopted during the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) .
- Aim: It aims to address biodiversity loss, restore ecosystems and protect indigenous rights.
- The framework consists of 4 global 2050 goals and 23 global 2030 targets.
- Key goals of the GBF: The 4 key goals are:
- Biodiversity conservation and restoration
- Nature’s contribution to people’s
- Access and benefit sharing and tools
- Solutions for mainstreaming and implementation.
- Signatories: It was adopted by 196 countries.
- India is also a signatory to it.
- Binding: It is not an international treaty and is not legally binding to the parties.
- All Parties to the framework are committed to setting national targets for its implementation.
About Protected Planet Report, 2024
- It is the first report to assess the global status of Protected and Conserved Areas (PCA) in the context of Target 3 of the KMGBF.
- It also tracks progress on Aichi Target 11.
- Launched by: It was launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
- First Published: It was first released globally in 2012.
- Key highlights of the report
- The Report recorded 8.6% of ocean and coastal areas within documented protected and conserved areas globally.
- Around 10% of the global ocean is now within protected and conserved areas.
- The world still needs to protect an area almost the size of the Indian Ocean by 2030 to reach the 30% target under the KMGBF.
- Over the past two years, nearly 5 million km² of ocean have been newly protected.
- Only 1.3% of the ocean is covered by protected areas where management effectiveness has been assessed and reported. This shows gaps in monitoring.
- New areas were added to the World Database on Protected and Conserved Areas (WDCPA), which tracks global progress toward KMGBF targets.
- Since 2024, 175 marine or coastal sites have been designated, including protected areas and Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs).
- New sites span Asia, Oceania, Africa, Europe, North America, and South America.
- Tainui Atea (French Polynesia, 2025) became the largest marine protected area at 4.5 million km².
- The expansion of the Heard Island and McDonald Islands Commonwealth Marine Reserve (Australia) added about 309,700 km² in 2024. In 2025, both island reserves were expanded by 400%.
- About 95% of Earth’s habitat by volume lies in the high seas, yet only 1.66% of these areas are protected, highlighting a major protection gap.
