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How French Polynesia Protected 4.8 Million km² of Ocean: The World's Largest MPA · How To Protect The Ocean

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  French Polynesia has created the world's
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  largest marine protected
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  area, spanning nearly its
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  entire exclusive economic zone, it's EZ
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  at about 4.8 million kilometers square.
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  The announcement happened at the United
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  Nations Ocean Conference
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  that I was at in France.
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  I didn't actually see the announcement,
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  but it was the big talk
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  of the town and it marks
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  a major leap in marine
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  conservation efforts.
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  We're going to talk about why that does
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  it on this episode of
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  the How to Protect the
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  Ocean podcast.
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  Let's start the show.
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  Hey everybody, welcome back to another
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  exciting episode of the How
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  to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.
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  This is the podcast where you find out
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  what's happening with the
• 0:36
  ocean, how you can speak
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  up for the ocean, what you can do to live
• 0:39
  for a better ocean by taking action.
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  On today's episode, we're going to be
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  talking about the world's
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  largest marine protected
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  area.
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  That's French Polynesia.
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  They protected 4.8 million square
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  kilometers and it's huge.
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  And we're going to talk about why this
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  happening and the
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  significance of it and what's actually
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  in the details of the NPA because a lot
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  of times we talk about
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  marine protected areas
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  and PAs and as a lot of times
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  they end up being paper parks.
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  They're just for show and they don't
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  really protect much or they
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  get protected for a little
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  bit and then they get rescinded.
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  Some of it gets rescinded to opening up
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  the fishing or there
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  are some marine protected
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  areas like in the UK that allow bottom
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  trawling, which isn't
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  helping the recovery of fishery
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  species.
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  So there's a lot to talk about here.
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  We're going to get into it, but before we
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  do, I just wanted to
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  let you know, have you
• 1:21
  ever felt like you want to connect to
• 1:23
  ocean conservation a little bit more?
• 1:24
  Listening to this podcast sometimes
• 1:25
  helps, but sometimes you
• 1:26
  feel like you want to do
• 1:27
  more.
• 1:28
  I want you to think about joining our
• 1:29
  community at the undertow.
• 1:30
  And the reason why is because this is a
• 1:32
  community that supports
• 1:33
  wave makers, individuals and
• 1:34
  people who are supporting a mission, who
• 1:37
  are leading a mission
• 1:38
  to protect the ocean.
• 1:40
  We're going to be
• 1:40
  talking about the ocean.
• 1:41
  We're going to be meeting at least once a
• 1:43
  month to be able to
• 1:44
  talk just as a community
• 1:45
  to talk about ocean conservation
• 1:47
  practices and ocean
• 1:48
  conservation general and how we
• 1:49
  can guide you to become a better ocean
• 1:51
  steward, even if you live
• 1:53
  in the middle of a landmass
• 1:55
  like I do here in Ontario.
• 1:57
  So there's a lot of things that you can
• 1:58
  do in this community.
• 2:00
  So join it, go to speakupforblue.com
• 2:02
  forward slash join the
• 2:04
  undertow that speakupforblue.com
• 2:06
  forward slash join the undertow.
• 2:08
  We're going to be starting this community
• 2:09
  and kicking it off very soon.
• 2:10
  So just sign up now and you'll get access
• 2:13
  to the community very soon.
• 2:14
  All right.
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  Let's get back into this great news of
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  this marine protected
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  area in the French Polynesian
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  islands. So like I mentioned, total area
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  4.8 million
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  kilometers, roughly 18 times the
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  size of Great Britain. It's also fully
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  protected. 1.086 million square
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  kilometers is fully protected.
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  And it's the twice the size of mainland
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  France, 900,000 square
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  kilometers of no take zones,
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  220 square kilometers near the society
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  islands and 680,000 square
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  kilometers near the Gambier
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  islands, artisanal fishing
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  zones, 186,000 kilometers squared.
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  So that means for traditional line
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  fishing and small scale spear fishing.
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  So for artisanal fishers only that's
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  available to them and
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  then broader protections.
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  The rest essentially has limits of
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  extractive activities like deep sea
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  mining and bottom trawling.
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  So there are just different management
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  zones within this larger marine protected
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  area, which is wonderful.
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  So by World Oceans Day in 2026, there's
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  going to be an additional 500,000 square
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  kilometers that will be designated as a
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  highly protected zone.
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  And then this graduate rollout just shows
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  that commitment to
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  ramping up protection over time.
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  So this is how it works.
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  Really, when you start putting together a
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  marine protected area and you do it
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  properly like this one seems to have been
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  done, you include people
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  right from the beginning.
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  So you include the people whose the water
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  is important, the coastline is important
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  to them from a cultural perspective, plus
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  from a fishing perspective, from a
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  community perspective.
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  You also include like government
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  entities, you include conservation
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  organizations, you include scientists and
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  other experts and traditional experts as
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  well as part of that culture.
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  And you all talk together right from the
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  beginning and it may not be a smooth
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  sailing kind of process.
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  There's going to be conflict, there's
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  going to be arguments, there's going to
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  be times where you may not agree and
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  people are going to have to compromise.
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  Each side of every little thing of every
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  ocean user is going
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  to have to compromise.
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  But when you do it properly and you set
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  aside enough zones for everybody and you
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  are able to make sure that this marine
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  protector is going to do its job.
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  It's not just going to be the world's
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  largest marine protected area, but it's
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  going to be the world's largest
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  functional and
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  successful marine protected area.
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  That's what you shoot for. And to me,
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  right off of this article that I saw in
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  manga Bay news, this looks like this
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  marine protected area is starting off
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  right with the promise of an additional
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  500,000 square kilometer protection
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  designated as highly
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  protected in 2026, only a year later.
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  There's a lot to go into this, but this
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  is really great. The president, Motaya, I
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  think I'm pronouncing it
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  properly, Motay, maybe.
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  Brotherson emphasized ancestral
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  stewardship and alignment with IUCN
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  standards. So they're following all the
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  protocols. So Aguilar, IUCN DG praise it
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  as globally significant spotlighting how
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  small island nations can
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  lead in sustainability.
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  And then conservation NGOs, including
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  IUCN and the Pew charitable trust applaud
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  the move. So Scott support from cultural
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  significance and communities.
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  It's got the praise of IUCN.
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  It's got the praise of major
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  organizations that help people in these
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  communities be able to get the
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  information, the resources that they need
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  to do this type of work.
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  And that's a Pew charitable trust as well
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  as other like conservation international
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  and so forth. There's a lot of other
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  organizations that get involved.
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  So now why is it matter to have this
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  marine particularly? Why is it so
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  important? So there's a biodiversity
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  boost right after this. So you're
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  protecting critical habitats so that
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  sharks, whales, sea turtles, and some of
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  the healthiest coral reefs recorded have
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  protections, protections
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  from extractive processes.
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  Now, this doesn't protect these coral
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  reefs or other habitats from climate
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  change, but it does protect any kind of
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  other human disturbance that's around.
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  Now there's a cultural and livelihood
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  significance of the ocean sustains
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  Polynesian communities, both economically
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  and spiritually. So the fact that
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  importance went into the planning and
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  went into the results of
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  this protected area is huge.
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  And then global leadership. This sets a
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  bold example that only 8.3% of global
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  oceans are currently protected fall short
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  of the 30 by 30 targets.
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  So there's a percent by 30 by 2030, but
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  this helps bring it up to I believe it
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  was almost 10%. So it helps just in this
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  one marine protected area, but it's not
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  just a marine protected area to say we
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  have the largest marine protected area.
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  It's a marine protected has zones, the
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  specific zones to meet all the criteria
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  that I mentioned earlier, the cultural
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  aspect, the science aspect, the
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  environmental aspect, right? And
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  protecting it from future threats such as
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  deep sea mining is really important here.
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  So additional measures, so strengthening
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  fisheries management with public input,
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  just as I mentioned before, banning deep
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  sea mining and fish aggregating devices
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  will help and allow these populations to
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  recover within this marine protected area
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  and then spill over outside the
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  boundaries to allow better fisheries in
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  the future and more
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  sustainable fisheries in the future.
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  So obviously emphasizing community
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  involvement and traditional ecological
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  knowledge is really important in these
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  processes. And that's what these did
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  seeking international cooperation funding
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  from like the Pew charitable trust and
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  the IUCN having legal protections require
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  enforcement support.
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  So this really helped in that. And then
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  looking at it comparatively to the
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  Phoenix Islands protected area in
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  Kiribati, which only covers approximately
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  408,000 square kilometers, we're looking
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  at an order of magnitude more and other
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  MPA examples such as the Ross Sea,
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  Papahana, Mokuakea, Coral Sea, none of
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  which match the Antarctic Arctic scales,
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  but these things are huge.
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  This is the largest marine protected area
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  to help out with those percentages. It
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  stands out as the largest default and in
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  its exclusive economic zone and it's EEZ.
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  So that's a huge thing for French
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  Polynesia. It's leading the battle and
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  making sure that we
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  protect the 30% by 2030.
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  So essentially, on presses in scale and
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  ambition, marking a new standard for
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  marine protected area, including
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  everybody in the area showing that you
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  can have inclusive processes with a huge
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  marine protected area, which really helps
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  and almost its entire
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  exclusive economic zone.
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  It's a balanced approach conservation
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  zones having sustainable traditional
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  fishing allowing to happen and future
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  planning for more protections, which will
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  be great and it demonstrates an effective
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  use of ancestral knowledge, strong
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  governance and compelling
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  model for other nations.
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  This is huge. And the challenge now lies
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  in the implementation, the enforcement
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  and the global support. I think they'll
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  get the global support. I'm not sure if
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  it'll be financial. Hopefully it will be
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  on an ongoing basis. There are different
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  ways to fund these types of management
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  practices in the future.
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  I know the island of Newey that I had on
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  a couple of years ago, actually working
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  with Conservation International and the
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  Blue Nature Alliance, they were able to
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  almost like not auction off the property,
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  but they were able to support like a
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  square kilometer of marine protected area
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  for the next 20 years.
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  I think if you paid a certain fee, I
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  think it was like $240 US or $240
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  Canadian. I can't remember. But then you
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  got to say, hey, you know what? I'm
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  actually supporting this little piece of
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  area for the next 20 years so that they
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  can implement and enforce these
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  management practices.
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  And so it really helped by it with that
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  global support, which I thought was
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  great. So I think this is really
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  important. Just imagine protecting nearly
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  5 million square
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  kilometers of oceans properly.
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  It's not considered a paper park or it
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  probably won't be considered a paper
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  park. I hope it's not. So I think this is
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  really great. There's a lot of work that
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  needs to be done in creating more marine
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  protected areas, whether they be large,
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  whether they be small, whether they be a
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  network of marine protected areas.
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  There's a lot more that we have to do. We
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  still have 20 more percent to reach the
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  30 by 30. And of course, we need to think
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  beyond that. We need to think about near
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  shore conservation. We need to think
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  about offshore conservation.
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  We need to think a lot more and making
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  sure that the marine protect areas that
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  we do have are not just paper parks that
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  get implemented with better management
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  practices. So there's always work to be
• 10:03
  done. Make sure you follow this podcast
• 10:05
  wherever you listen to your podcast,
• 10:07
  whether it's beyond YouTube, Apple
• 10:08
  podcast, Spotify, whether it's been
• 10:10
  anywhere. Make sure you tune in to hear
• 10:12
  more about ocean use like this.
• 10:14
  And if you want to join the undertow,
• 10:16
  please do so go to speak up for blue.com
• 10:18
  forward slash join the undertow. Be part
• 10:20
  of our community. Be part of the ocean
• 10:21
  community and help guide you to being a
• 10:24
  better ocean steward because we just
• 10:26
  provide you with information and the
• 10:27
  facts of what you need to do. So it's
• 10:29
  always great. Always fun. We're going to
• 10:30
  have a great fun in there. Speak up for
• 10:32
  blue.com forward slash join the undertow.
• 10:34
  That's it for me today. I want to thank
• 10:35
  you so much for joining me on this
• 10:37
  episode of the how to protect the ocean
• 10:39
  podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Lewin from
• 10:40
  the true north strong and free. Have a
• 10:42
  great day. We'll talk to you next time and happy.