The global goal to protect and conserve at least 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030 remains within reach, but governments will need to accelerate implementation, increase biodiversity finance and improve the effectiveness of protected areas if the target is to be achieved, according to a new 30×30 Global Assessment launched by Campaign for Nature and Together for the Ocean. The assessment finds that existing quantified government commitments could raise protection of land and inland waters from around 20% today to approximately 27% by 2030, while progress in the ocean remains considerably further behind.
The 30×30 Global Assessment, described by its publishers as the most comprehensive analysis to date of global progress towards the biodiversity target agreed by governments in 2022, identifies a widening difference between commitments and implementation. It is accompanied by the Ocean Protection Gap Report 2026, which provides a complementary analysis of progress at sea, where the implementation gap is greatest. Together, the reports examine how 30×30 is advancing across land and ocean while identifying the policy, financing and governance measures required to accelerate effective protection through 2030.
The 30×30 target forms part of Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted by governments at the Convention on Biological Diversity COP15 in Montreal in 2022. It calls for at least 30% of terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine areas to be effectively conserved and managed by 2030 through protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures. The framework also requires implementation to respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
The new assessment estimates that around 20% of land and inland waters are now designated as protected or conserved. Fully delivering existing quantified government commitments could increase this to approximately 27% by 2030, leaving a smaller coverage gap than the current trajectory would suggest. However, the assessment stresses that commitments alone will not deliver the target unless countries translate them into concrete, mapped, costed and financed implementation plans.
More than 50 countries and territories now report terrestrial coverage of at least 30%, while countries including Brazil, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica and Colombia have significantly expanded protected and conserved areas in recent years. As of September 2026, 132 of the 196 Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity had submitted quantified commitments for land and inland waters. The challenge is therefore increasingly shifting from setting targets to determining whether commitments are adequately financed, appropriately located and effectively managed.
For Africa, this distinction is particularly important. The continent contains some of the world’s most significant biodiversity assets, including the Congo Basin forests, savannahs, wetlands, coastal ecosystems and marine habitats. These ecosystems support agriculture, fisheries, tourism, water systems, carbon storage and rural livelihoods. Expanding protected and conserved areas without sufficient long-term financing, local institutional capacity and community participation could leave governments with conservation designations that are difficult to manage effectively.
The ocean represents a substantially larger implementation challenge. The assessment finds that around 10% of the global ocean is currently designated for conservation, while existing quantified national commitments would increase this to only about 12% by 2030. More significantly, just 3.5% of the global ocean is currently assessed as effectively protected, meaning that destructive activities are excluded or significantly reduced within designated protected areas.
This gap between designation and effective protection is particularly visible in critical marine ecosystems. The Ocean Protection Gap Report finds that 33% of mangroves are reported as protected, but only 0.3% are assessed as effectively protected. Similarly, 47% of warm-water corals lie within protected areas, while less than 10% are assessed as effectively protected. The figures underline the growing concern that measuring conservation by geographical coverage alone can obscure whether ecosystems are actually receiving meaningful protection.
The High Seas Treaty has consequently emerged as one of the central mechanisms for closing the ocean protection gap. The high seas account for roughly two-thirds of the global ocean and historically lacked a comprehensive framework for establishing marine protected areas in international waters. The BBNJ Agreement, commonly known as the High Seas Treaty, entered into force on 17 January 2026, creating a legal framework for marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. Its implementation now provides an opportunity to expand conservation in areas that fall outside national waters.
Lance Morgan, President of Marine Conservation Institute, described the ocean protection gap as a defining challenge for delivering 30×30, while stressing that designation alone is not enough. Marine protected areas require effective management, adequate financing and safeguards against destructive activities if they are to deliver measurable biodiversity and economic benefits. Marine Conservation Institute has similarly emphasised the need to move from global agreements towards enforceable protection on the water.
The reports also place Indigenous Peoples and local communities at the centre of the 30×30 implementation debate. Land owned, governed or managed by Indigenous Peoples and local communities could cover more than 35% of the world’s terrestrial surface, according to the assessment. Around 60% of known Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ lands have experienced no to low human impact, while more than 40% overlap with intact ecosystems, high-biodiversity areas or areas important for climate stabilisation.
For African countries, where community and customary land governance remains important across forests, rangelands and other ecosystems, recognition of Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ rights is closely linked to the practical delivery of conservation outcomes. The assessment calls for greater recognition of conservation pathways that include Indigenous and Traditional Territories, citing countries including Brazil, Colombia, Peru, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Philippines.
Lucy Mulenki and Ramiro Batzín, Co-Chairs of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, said Indigenous Peoples and local communities have long stewarded many of the world’s important ecosystems and called for greater recognition of their rights, knowledge and authority over their territories. The International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity continues to advocate for full and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
The financing gap remains another major constraint. The assessment estimates that achieving the global nature protection target will require approximately $100 billion to $180 billion annually, compared with current annual spending of roughly $24 billion. The ocean faces an especially pronounced financing shortfall, with approximately $16 billion estimated to be required annually compared with an estimated $1.8 billion currently spent.
The scale of the gap places greater emphasis on financial mechanisms capable of providing predictable and long-term support for conservation. The assessment identifies domestic public budgets, conservation trust funds, Project Finance for Permanence, debt conversion and blended finance among the established approaches that could be deployed more widely. For developing countries, where many globally important biodiversity assets are located, international finance remains an important component of closing the investment gap.
Africa’s experience with conservation finance illustrates the importance of moving beyond short-term project funding. Protected areas require recurring expenditure for management, monitoring, enforcement, community engagement and ecosystem restoration. Debt conversions, conservation trust funds, carbon and biodiversity finance, development finance and blended structures are increasingly being explored as mechanisms for creating longer-term funding streams, although their scale remains well below the requirements identified by the assessment.
The economic dimension of the 30×30 target is also becoming more prominent. Campaign for Nature Director Brian O’Donnell said protected and conserved areas should be viewed not only as a conservation imperative but also as investments in economic resilience, climate stability, food and water security, health and long-term prosperity. This framing is particularly relevant to African economies where natural capital underpins substantial portions of agricultural production, tourism, fisheries and rural employment.
The assessment ultimately points to a shift in the biodiversity agenda from measuring commitments to measuring delivery. Countries will need to determine where conservation delivers the greatest biodiversity value, ensure protected areas are effectively managed, establish sustainable financing mechanisms and recognise the rights and leadership of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
With less than four years remaining before the 2030 deadline, the global 30×30 target therefore faces a dual challenge: closing the remaining coverage gap while ensuring that areas counted towards the target provide genuine conservation outcomes. For Africa, where biodiversity protection intersects with climate resilience, food systems, livelihoods and economic development, the quality of implementation will be as important as the number of hectares or square kilometres formally designated.
The assessment does not suggest that the 30×30 target is out of reach. Rather, it highlights a narrowing window in which governments, development finance institutions, conservation organisations and communities must convert existing commitments into funded and effectively managed conservation systems. The ocean presents the largest coverage and effectiveness gap, while land protection requires governments to move faster on implementation. The coming years will therefore test whether the global biodiversity framework can move from commitments and designations to durable protection of ecosystems and the economic and social systems that depend on them.
