Large-Scale Marine Protected Area Management

Large-scale marine protected areas (LSMPAs), typically spanning tens to hundreds of thousands of square kilometres, have become cornerstone instruments in global ocean conservation. Driven by international commitments to safeguard at least 30 per cent of global waters by 2030, LSMPAs aim to conserve biodiversity, reinforce ecological connectivity and bolster resilience to climate change. Their vast extent allows for protection of wide-ranging species and entire ecosystems, while offering potential refugia for migratory megafauna and deep-sea habitats. Effective management of LSMPAs encompasses spatial planning grounded in systematic conservation principles, adaptive governance frameworks that integrate ecological monitoring with stakeholder engagement, and enforcement regimes suited to remote regions. Challenges include the paucity of fine-scale biological data, the need to reconcile top-down designations with local rights and usage, and the complexities of coordinating policies across jurisdictions, especially in areas beyond national control. Successful LSMPAs combine rigorous scientific planning, robust governance structures and the inclusion of social dimensions to ensure both ecological outcomes and community stewardship.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent analyses demonstrate that LSMPAs already overlap substantially with the ranges of most assessed marine species, covering some portion of the distribution of over 80 per cent of marine taxa. Although only a quarter of these species have at least 10 per cent of their range fully protected, projections under future climate-change scenarios suggest that well-placed LSMPAs can increase this representation considerably by the end of the century. These findings underline the importance of systematic conservation planning to guide the siting of new LSMPAs, including in areas beyond national jurisdictions, and recommend five key actions to strengthen long-term biodiversity representation. Emphasis is placed on improving spatial prioritisation, expanding protection to dynamic habitats, and ensuring iterative review of protected-area boundaries in response to shifting species distributions.

Large-Scale Marine Protected Area Management publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in large-scale marine protected area management across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Large-Scale Marine Protected Area (LSMPA): A marine protected area exceeding 100 000 km², designated to conserve extensive habitats and wide-ranging species across large ocean domains.

Systematic conservation planning: A science-based framework for identifying and prioritising areas that maximise biodiversity protection under given resource constraints.

Ecological connectivity: The degree to which populations of species can move between protected sites, ensuring genetic exchange and resilience to environmental change.

No-take zone: A strict protection category within an MPA where fishing and extractive activities are fully prohibited to allow ecosystem recovery.

References

1. What we know about the new High Seas Treaty. npj Ocean Sustainability (2023).
2. Large‐scale marine protected areas and imaginaries of progress in ocean governance. Geo Geography and Environment (2024).
3. Addressing Criticisms of Large-Scale Marine Protected Areas. BioScience (2018).
4. Toward a Social Science Research Agenda for Large Marine Protected Areas. Conservation Letters (2015).
5. Large marine protected areas represent biodiversity now and under climate change. Scientific Reports (2017).
6. Mismatches in scale between highly mobile marine megafauna and marine protected areas. Frontiers in Marine Science (2022).