Protecting the global ocean for biodiversity, food and climate

<b>Abstract</b><br/><p>The ocean contains unique biodiversity, provides valuable food resources, and is a major sink for anthropogenic carbon. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are an effective tool for restoring ocean biodiversity and ecosystem services but at present only 2.7% of the ocean is highly protected. This low level of ocean protection is due largely to conflicts with fisheries and other extractive uses. To address this issue, here we developed a conservation planning framework to prioritize highly protected MPAs in places that would result in multiple benefits today and in the future. We find that a substantial increase in ocean protection could have triple benefits, by protecting biodiversity, boosting the yield of fisheries, and securing marine carbon stocks that are at risk from human activities. Our results show that most coastal nations contain priority areas that can contribute substantially to achieving these three objectives of biodiversity protection, food provision, and carbon storage. A globally coordinated effort could be nearly twice as efficient as uncoordinated, national-level conservation planning. Our flexible prioritization framework could help to inform both national marine spatial plans and global targets for marine conservation, food security, and climate action.</p>

**摘要**
海洋拥有独特的生物多样性，提供珍贵的食物资源，同时是人为活动碳排放的主要碳汇。海洋保护区（Marine Protected Areas, MPAs）是恢复海洋生物多样性与生态系统服务的有效手段，但当前全球仅2.7%的海洋区域受到严格保护。海洋保护水平偏低的主要原因，在于其与渔业及其他资源开发活动存在冲突。为解决这一问题，本研究构建了一套保护规划框架，可对能在当前及未来带来多重效益的区域优先划定为严格保护的海洋保护区。研究发现，大幅提升海洋保护覆盖率可实现三重效益：保护生物多样性、提升渔业产量，以及保护受人类活动威胁的海洋碳储库。研究结果表明，多数沿海国家均存在可显著助力实现生物多样性保护、食物供给与碳封存三大目标的优先区域。全球协同的保护行动，其效率可比各国各自为政的国家级保护规划提升近一倍。本研究提出的灵活优先规划框架，可为国家级海洋空间规划以及海洋保护、粮食安全与气候行动的全球目标制定提供决策参考。