Making the case for a human rights-based approach to marine conservation
From Patagonia to the Gulf of Thailand, the communities who know the ocean best are rarely the ones deciding its future. That is not just a justice problem – it is also why global ocean protection is failing.
This report makes the case that the world’s ’30×30′ ocean protection targets cannot be met through top-down conservation models that sideline the very people who have sustained marine ecosystems for generations. Drawing on four in-depth case studies from Chile, Senegal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, the report documents both the cost of exclusion and the results of community-led stewardship while arguing that rights-based conservation is not only the most just approach, but the most effective one.
What the report covers:
- Why current conservation models produce ‘paper parks’ instead of protected oceans
- How Indigenous Peoples and local communities are already achieving stronger ecological outcomes
- What governments must do differently ahead of CBD COP17 in Yerevan, Armenia