30x30 – in hot water

Two recent and substantive reports—the IPCC’s Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere and the IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services—set out the complex interplay between ocean and climate. They explain not only the impacts of rising greenhouse gasses on the ocean, but how ocean and marine life carries out essential ecosystem functions which, among other things, provide food, sequester and store carbon, and generate oxygen.This report draws on this research and much of the recent science. It sets out how, by protecting at least 30% of the ocean in a network of ocean sanctuaries, we can build resilience in ocean ecosystems so they can better withstand rapid changes, and help mitigate climate change by promoting carbon sequestration and storage.