How to Address the Ocean Conservation Funding Shortfall

The ocean covers two-thirds of our planet and plays a crucial role in food security, climate regulation and global trade, but estimates indicate that these waters receive only 14% of international funding for conservation.

As leaders gather for the Our Ocean conference 16-18 June in Mombasa, Kenya, addressing this financing gap should be top of mind. It is especially important as almost 200 countries work to achieve their 2022 pledges under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to protect 30% of the world’s lands and oceans by 2030, a target known as 30 by 30.

Funding is essential to conservation and is needed for every step, from conception and design of protected areas to effective long-term management. The long-standing ocean conservation finance gap is widening, however, even though experts say that protecting 30% of the planet would increase annual global economic output by $250 billion and deliver $350 billion in ecosystem services by 2050.

Joining forces to close the ocean conservation finance gap

Closing the financing shortfall requires action and partnerships on numerous fronts, and The Pew Charitable Trusts is part of complementary efforts in pursuit of this goal. One of those partnerships, Blue Nature Alliance, centers on securing effective conservation of 5% of the global ocean with a strong focus on sustainable financing. Another, Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy, works to create, expand, finance and manage marine protected areas. Advancing Coastal Wetlands Conservation works with local and international partners in nine countries to design and secure financing solutions for protecting these vital habitats. Enduring Earth has at its core a model known as project finance for permanence (PFP), which helps to ensure that large-scale conservation is sustainably funded. And the Debt for Nature Coalition supports debt conversions, in which countries refinance debt in exchange for specific investments – in this case, in conservation.

Piloting a model for sustainable ocean financing

Blue Nature Alliance, in partnership with the Minderoo Foundation, is launching a pilot project at Our Ocean that aims to help three countries to develop national marine finance plans and mobilize capital through sustainable financing mechanisms.

The countries involved in the pilot project – to be announced at a Blue Nature Alliance event at Our Ocean – have widely different conditions but similar ambitions for ocean conservation. They will work with Blue Nature Alliance to estimate the funds needed to manage ocean areas effectively to meet their 30-by-30 targets, identify funding shortfalls and propose mechanisms to help overcome them.

Government funding is key for effective ocean protections

A healthy ocean is the foundation of the marine economy. Governments reap the economic benefits of vibrant fisheries, tourism and shipping, including the taxes and jobs created by those industries. However, in many countries, public investment in maintaining the health of the ocean is not commensurate with the value the ocean provides.

As the chief source of conservation funding, governments can direct revenues collected through tourism, departure fees and hotel taxes by linking them more explicitly to ocean conservation activities. Governments can also redirect subsidies that inadvertently damage biodiversity – such as some harmful subsidies paid to industrial fishers – towards ocean conservation, addressing two problems at once.

Some governments could also improve conservation and lower burdensome debt through debt conversions, or “debt-for-nature swaps.” Leading examples of debt conversions that benefit nature include the following:

• In 2015, Seychelles refinanced debt to a lower interest rate by agreeing to specific marine protections, freeing up money to develop conservation plans, boost monitoring capacity and create governance bodies. These efforts helped the government reach its 30% ocean protection goal.
• In 2023, Ecuador converted $1.6 billion in commercial debt into a $656 million loan – the largest debt refinancing for ocean conservation worldwide. As a condition of the conversion, Ecuador agreed to direct $12 million each year to conservation activities and $5.4 million to a permanent endowment. In 2040, when the loan payments conclude, Ecuador’s endowment will continue to fund ocean conservation activities in perpetuity.

Governments are also starting to link coastal wetlands and other ocean work into their climate financing strategies, including how they meet their goals under the Paris Agreement.

Effective ocean protection also needs non-government funding

Even with increased government funding, ocean conservation requires greater investment in the near term from philanthropic donors, non-governmental organizations, development finance institutions and the private sector. Many innovative options exist for them, too.

In one recent example, Niue, a self-governing island in the South Pacific, in 2023 announced Ocean Conservation Commitments, which enable foundations, corporations, individuals and others to sponsor the protection and management of a square kilometre of Niue’s ocean territory for at least 20 years. Blue Nature Alliance provided technical assistance in support of this program.

In another example, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, in partnership with the Government of Canada and Pew, launched a PFP initiative called SINAA that secured all the necessary funding from the government and private philanthropic partners to establish new and enhanced protections and Inuit governance over 989,879 square kilometres (382,194 square miles) of Qikiqtani land and waters in the territory of Nunavut. SINAA is one of the newest PFPs created through Enduring Earth, and one of the world’s largest Indigenous-led marine conservation and community development initiatives.

Ocean conservation is severely underfunded, and closing the finance gap will require a blend of sustainable finance mechanisms and a mosaic of partners. Because of the promising models that now exist, participants in the Our Ocean conference should bring ambition and optimism to their discussions and plans to help ensure a thriving and productive ocean that benefits people, wildlife and habitat long into the future.

Shubash Lohani is the senior director of Pew’s global conservation initiatives.