A pathway to protect 30 % of coastal waters by 2030

Nearly 200 countries have committed to protecting at least 30 % of the global ocean by 2030 (30 ×30), a substantial increase from the current 8 % under some form of protection. However, there is no roadmap for achieving this global target. We find that achieving 30 % protection of territorial seas alone will require protecting an additional 1.68 million km 2 (∼188,000 coastal MPAs at an average size of 10 km 2 ). Despite the proven benefits of coastal MPAs to nature and people, MPAs are not being established at the pace required to achieve the global target. We argue that three main obstacles to scaling coastal MPAs are lack of awareness, inadequate governance, and the wrong business models. Here we propose a novel cost-effective and scalable pathway that would enable and equip coastal communities around the world to establish and effectively manage their own local MPAs.