SDG Goals
Life below water
Yaye, president of a women’s fish-processing cooperative, and fellow members process fish in Mbao, Senegal. Cooperative members are generating additional income from alternative activities as climate change and overexploitation deplete fish stocks.
© ILO/Famara DiengHistoric agreements and conservation achievements signal a turning point for ocean health
Historic BBNJ Agreement takes effect
After nearly two decades of negotiations, a landmark global agreement to protect marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction came into force on 17 January 2026 – just two and a half years after its adoption. The BBNJ Agreement covers two thirds of the ocean that lie outside national limits, strengthening the legal framework for conserving and sustainably using marine biodiversity and is a significant step in addressing the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
The BBNJ Agreement addresses four main issues. First, it establishes a framework for activities with respect to relevant marine genetic resources – the biological material found in ocean species that holds potential value for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and other industries – ensuring that the benefits from their use are shared fairly and equitably. Second, it sets out the rules for the designation of marine protected areas in the high seas and the international seabed area. Third, it requires environmental impact assessments for activities that could harm the marine environment. Fourth, it promotes capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology, particularly for developing countries, enabling them to participate more effectively in ocean activities. It is also the first legally binding ocean treaty providing for the engagement of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and a commitment to gender-balanced representation.
The biggest challenge ahead will be translating the Agreement’s historic ambition into global action. As of 1 June 2026, 89 countries have become parties to the Agreement – but many others have yet to do so. Parties will formally convene for the first time in January 2027 to take important decisions for the future of the Agreement.
Ocean protection reaches 10 per cent coverage
Marine conservation reached a milestone in April 2026, when 10.01 per cent of the ocean was officially designated as protected or conserved – six years after the 2020 deadline. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework now commits countries to protecting 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030, meaning coverage must triple in four years. It also requires not just expanding protected areas but improving their quality: average coverage of key biodiversity areas stands at only 47 per cent, and additional marine areas critical for biodiversity remain to be identified. Progress, though delayed, is gaining momentum. Since 2024, approximately 5 million square kilometres of ocean (an area larger than all the countries in the European Union combined) have been newly protected, including Tainui Atea in French Polynesia, currently the world’s largest marine protected area. However, most of that progress has been in national waters. Areas beyond national jurisdiction remain critically underprotected, at just 1.66 per cent coverage. The BBNJ Agreement could be key to expanding protection in these waters and reaching the 2030 target.
New WTO Agreement targets fisheries subsidies
Overfishing and illegal fishing are accelerating biodiversity loss and threatening the food security and livelihoods of millions of people, with harmful subsidies costing taxpayers $22 billion annually and incentivizing the problem further. The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies – among the first WTO Agreements with environmental sustainability at its core – marks a significant step towards addressing this. In force since 15 September 2025, the Agreement prohibits subsidies linked to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, restricts support for the exploitation of overfished stocks and bans subsidies for fishing outside of the jurisdiction of coastal States or relevant regional fisheries management organizations/ arrangements. So far, 120 members have accepted the Agreement, with a dedicated Committee on Fisheries Subsidies overseeing implementation. A second phase of negotiations, targeting the remaining subsidies that drive overcapacity and overfishing, is under way and must be completed within four years for the full Agreement to hold. The clock is ticking.
As ocean monitoring expands, the picture of acidification grows more apparent
The ocean absorbs about 29 per cent of global CO2 emissions – a greater amount than terrestrial ecosystems – making it one of Earth’s most critical climate buffers. But this service comes at a cost. As the ocean takes up CO2, it alters seawater chemistry. Over the past 40 years, the WMO reports global average surface ocean pH has declined from 8.11 to 8.04, indicating increased acidification. However, acidification is not uniform: parts of the Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, eastern equatorial Pacific and northern tropical Pacific are all acidifying more quickly than the global average, as are parts of the Atlantic Ocean. Under current climate scenarios, ocean acidification will continue, diminishing the ocean’s capacity to absorb CO2 and potentially driving greater atmospheric warming.
Reporting on ocean pH levels has expanded rapidly, with monitoring stations increasing across 45 reporting countries from 178 in 2021 to 906 in 2026. However, most countries report only one to five years of observations and significant observational gaps persist, particularly in coastal Asia, Africa and much of the open ocean outside the North Atlantic. These gaps constrain global modelling, vulnerability assessments and projections of future impacts. Just 13 countries submit data sets spanning more than a decade, limiting the coverage of long-term trends, local and regional variations, and ecosystems impacts. Expanding long-term observations is essential for effective adaptation and mitigation measures to support ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.
Number of countries reporting SDG indicator 14.3.1, by historical data coverage, 2026
Note: Indicator 14.3.1: Average marine acidity (pH) measured at agreed suite of representative sampling stations. Oceania includes Australia and New Zealand.
Science-based management supports fisheries sustainability, but regional gaps persist
Global food security relies heavily on fisheries, which also offer critical support to coastal economies. Yet many are under pressure from overfishing, climate variability, pollution, habitat loss and IUU fishing. The latest global assessment in 2021 shows that 35.5 per cent of assessed stocks were overfished, while only 64.5 per cent were within biologically sustainable levels. The decline of sustainable fish stocks has, however, slowed markedly since 2015, falling by an estimated two percentage points over the past six years after decades of rapid decline, reflecting the impact of science-based fisheries management and stock-rebuilding measures.
In 2021, 77.2 per cent of the world’s ocean catch came from biologically sustainable stocks, with highly productive and economically valuable species generally in better condition than other species globally. However, progress remains uneven. Sustainability rates exceed the global average in the North Atlantic, Northeast Pacific and Southwest Pacific, reflecting decades of sustained investment in stock management, and improvements are emerging in parts of Southeast Asia and West Africa. By contrast, sustainability remains low in the Mediterranean and continues to fall in parts of the Central Pacific and South Atlantic. Expanding and strengthening fisheries management in underperforming regions will be critical to restoring depleted stocks globally.
Sustainable fisheries’ share of GDP declines for third consecutive year
Sustainable fisheries remain vital for livelihoods and food security in many developing countries, supporting a large share of the world’s 58.5 million fisheries and aquaculture workers. After a brief period of growth between 2015 and 2017, globally, sustainable fisheries as a share of GDP declined for the third consecutive reporting period since 2019, reaching 0.08 per cent in 2023. This represented a further 7 per cent drop since 2021, even as fisheries and aquaculture generated a combined $175 billion in value. The decline reflects primarily growth in global GDP itself, the increasing relative growth of other sectors, such as tourism, and falling sustainability rates in several major fishing areas.
Sustainable fisheries share of GDP is falling in regions where they are an economic lifeline, including in SIDS – where the share fell from 0.57 per cent to 0.52 per cent between 2021 and 2023 – although still more than six times the global figure. In LDCs, the share fell modestly, from 0.75 per cent to 0.73 per cent, still nine times the global average, and South-Eastern Asia continued its downward trend, from 0.61 per cent to 0.59 per cent. Sub-Saharan Africa was the exception and the only region to record growth, rising from 0.39 per cent in 2021 to 0.43 per cent in 2023, with Middle Africa reaching 0.81 per cent. At the other end of the spectrum, Europe and Northern America remained around 0.03 per cent over the same period.
Sustainable fisheries as a proportion of GDP, 2015–2023 (percentage)
