30x30: Protecting 30% by 2030
For Nature and People
There are two International Coalitions that support the goal of 30x30. The High Ambition Coalition for Nature and people (HAC) and the Global Ocean Alliance. The Global Ocean Alliance supports 30% marine target whereas the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) supports a 30% target for both marine and terrestrial. They are complementary alliances. The chairs of the HAC, Costa Rica and France, are members of the Global Ocean Alliance, and the UK is a member and ocean co-chair of the HAC.
Global Ocean Alliance 30by30
This is a UK-led initiative. Its aim is to protect at least 30% of the global ocean as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) by 2030. The Alliance currently consists of 59 member countries.
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) had determined under the (Aichi target 11) that 10 percent of the ocean should be protected by 2020. But this clearly wasn’t enough. The 10% target will not deliver the environmental benefits necessary to meet the objectives set out in the UN Sustainable Development Goals. At the World Conservation Congress in 2016 IUCN members agreed to scale up the target to at least 30% by 2030.
The High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC)
This is an intergovernmental group of 72 countries co-chaired by Costa Rica and France and by the United Kingdom as Ocean co-chair, championing a global deal for nature and people with the central goal of protecting at least 30 percent of the world’s land and ocean by 2030.
The 30x30 target is a global target that aims to halt the accelerating loss of species and protect vital ecosystems that are the source of our economic security. The need for a global deal for protecting at least 30% of the planet is based on leading scientific research and the best available evidence. The HAC will build momentum toward a global deal and beyond.
Together, the HAC country members harbor 42% of land biodiversity and 30% of terrestrial carbon stocks, 44% of ocean biodiversity conservation priority areas, and 46% of sediment carbon (and 30% of carbon at risk from bottom trawling) in exclusive economic zones. Additionally, between the HAC, the Global Ocean Alliance (a coalition of countries championing the ocean 30by30 target), and other initiatives, over 100 countries now support the ocean “30by30” target.
ENCOURAGING NEWS
22 September 2021 at the UN Assembly event over 20 heads of state, as well as business, philanthropy, and Indigenous leaders, made major funding announcements and conservation commitments today at the Transformative Action for Nature and People,
Private funders have launched the “Protecting Our Planet Challenge.” and pledged $5 billion to protect and conserve 30% of the planet by 2030 by supporting protected areas and Indigenous stewardship of their territories. This marks the largest-ever philanthropic commitment to nature conservation.
Read about the details of these significant financing announcements and the statements made by heads of state in this National Geographic article.