Marine Protected Areas and the Mediterranean Sea

As of 2022, only 9.4 percent of the Mediterranean Sea was designated a Marine Protected Area (MPA) - below the 10 percent global target set for 2020.

As covered in depth in the new Statista report 'State of the Mediterranean Sea', "MPAs are a key tool to reverse the ecological decline" of the Med, and serve to "protect critical habitats such as seagrass meadows, coral formations, and breeding grounds for fish and marine mammals." Despite their role in helping to maintain the health of such systems, making them more resilient to the effects of climate change, the Mediterranean Sea is still sorely lacking this protection, especially in areas outside of the Western subregion.

As our infographic highlights, while the Med overall isn't at the MPA target level set for 2020, a later globally-adopted roadmap - the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework - has already set out an even more ambitious goal: 30 percent of the world's land and ocean to be covered by MPAs by 2030.

As covered in the Statista report, "for the Mediterranean, such a gargantuan task will require a considerable interest and funding boost. Estimates assure that the target is still feasible, but approximately 277 million U.S. dollars will be needed to do so."