How French Polynesia Protected 4.8 Million km² of Ocean: The World’s Largest MPA

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French Polynesia has created the world's

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largest marine protected

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area, spanning nearly its

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entire exclusive economic zone, it's EZ

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at about 4.8 million kilometers square.

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The announcement happened at the United

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Nations Ocean Conference

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that I was at in France.

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I didn't actually see the announcement,

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but it was the big talk

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of the town and it marks

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a major leap in marine

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conservation efforts.

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We're going to talk about why that does

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it on this episode of

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the How to Protect the

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Ocean podcast.

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Let's start the show.

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Hey everybody, welcome back to another

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exciting episode of the How

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to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.

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This is the podcast where you find out

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what's happening with the

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ocean, how you can speak

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up for the ocean, what you can do to live

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for a better ocean by taking action.

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On today's episode, we're going to be

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talking about the world's

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largest marine protected

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area.

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That's French Polynesia.

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They protected 4.8 million square

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kilometers and it's huge.

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And we're going to talk about why this

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happening and the

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significance of it and what's actually

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in the details of the NPA because a lot

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of times we talk about

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marine protected areas

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and PAs and as a lot of times

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they end up being paper parks.

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They're just for show and they don't

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really protect much or they

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get protected for a little

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bit and then they get rescinded.

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Some of it gets rescinded to opening up

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the fishing or there

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are some marine protected

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areas like in the UK that allow bottom

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trawling, which isn't

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helping the recovery of fishery

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species.

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So there's a lot to talk about here.

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We're going to get into it, but before we

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do, I just wanted to

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let you know, have you

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ever felt like you want to connect to

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ocean conservation a little bit more?

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Listening to this podcast sometimes

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helps, but sometimes you

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feel like you want to do

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more.

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I want you to think about joining our

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community at the undertow.

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And the reason why is because this is a

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community that supports

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wave makers, individuals and

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people who are supporting a mission, who

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are leading a mission

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to protect the ocean.

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We're going to be

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talking about the ocean.

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We're going to be meeting at least once a

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month to be able to

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talk just as a community

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to talk about ocean conservation

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practices and ocean

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conservation general and how we

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can guide you to become a better ocean

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steward, even if you live

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in the middle of a landmass

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like I do here in Ontario.

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So there's a lot of things that you can

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do in this community.

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So join it, go to speakupforblue.com

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forward slash join the

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undertow that speakupforblue.com

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forward slash join the undertow.

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We're going to be starting this community

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and kicking it off very soon.

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So just sign up now and you'll get access

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to the community very soon.

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All right.

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Let's get back into this great news of

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this marine protected

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area in the French Polynesian

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islands. So like I mentioned, total area

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4.8 million

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kilometers, roughly 18 times the

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size of Great Britain. It's also fully

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protected. 1.086 million square

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kilometers is fully protected.

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And it's the twice the size of mainland

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France, 900,000 square

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kilometers of no take zones,

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220 square kilometers near the society

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islands and 680,000 square

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kilometers near the Gambier

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islands, artisanal fishing

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zones, 186,000 kilometers squared.

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So that means for traditional line

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fishing and small scale spear fishing.

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So for artisanal fishers only that's

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available to them and

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then broader protections.

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The rest essentially has limits of

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extractive activities like deep sea

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mining and bottom trawling.

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So there are just different management

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zones within this larger marine protected

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area, which is wonderful.

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So by World Oceans Day in 2026, there's

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going to be an additional 500,000 square

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kilometers that will be designated as a

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highly protected zone.

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And then this graduate rollout just shows

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that commitment to

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ramping up protection over time.

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So this is how it works.

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Really, when you start putting together a

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marine protected area and you do it

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properly like this one seems to have been

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done, you include people

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right from the beginning.

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So you include the people whose the water

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is important, the coastline is important

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to them from a cultural perspective, plus

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from a fishing perspective, from a

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community perspective.

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You also include like government

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entities, you include conservation

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organizations, you include scientists and

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other experts and traditional experts as

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well as part of that culture.

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And you all talk together right from the

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beginning and it may not be a smooth

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sailing kind of process.

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There's going to be conflict, there's

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going to be arguments, there's going to

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be times where you may not agree and

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people are going to have to compromise.

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Each side of every little thing of every

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ocean user is going

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to have to compromise.

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But when you do it properly and you set

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aside enough zones for everybody and you

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are able to make sure that this marine

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protector is going to do its job.

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It's not just going to be the world's

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largest marine protected area, but it's

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going to be the world's largest

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functional and

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successful marine protected area.

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That's what you shoot for. And to me,

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right off of this article that I saw in

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manga Bay news, this looks like this

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marine protected area is starting off

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right with the promise of an additional

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500,000 square kilometer protection

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designated as highly

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protected in 2026, only a year later.

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There's a lot to go into this, but this

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is really great. The president, Motaya, I

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think I'm pronouncing it

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properly, Motay, maybe.

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Brotherson emphasized ancestral

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stewardship and alignment with IUCN

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standards. So they're following all the

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protocols. So Aguilar, IUCN DG praise it

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as globally significant spotlighting how

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small island nations can

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lead in sustainability.

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And then conservation NGOs, including

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IUCN and the Pew charitable trust applaud

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the move. So Scott support from cultural

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significance and communities.

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It's got the praise of IUCN.

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It's got the praise of major

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organizations that help people in these

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communities be able to get the

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information, the resources that they need

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to do this type of work.

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And that's a Pew charitable trust as well

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as other like conservation international

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and so forth. There's a lot of other

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organizations that get involved.

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So now why is it matter to have this

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marine particularly? Why is it so

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important? So there's a biodiversity

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boost right after this. So you're

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protecting critical habitats so that

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sharks, whales, sea turtles, and some of

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the healthiest coral reefs recorded have

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protections, protections

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from extractive processes.

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Now, this doesn't protect these coral

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reefs or other habitats from climate

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change, but it does protect any kind of

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other human disturbance that's around.

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Now there's a cultural and livelihood

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significance of the ocean sustains

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Polynesian communities, both economically

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and spiritually. So the fact that

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importance went into the planning and

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went into the results of

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this protected area is huge.

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And then global leadership. This sets a

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bold example that only 8.3% of global

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oceans are currently protected fall short

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of the 30 by 30 targets.

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So there's a percent by 30 by 2030, but

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this helps bring it up to I believe it

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was almost 10%. So it helps just in this

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one marine protected area, but it's not

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just a marine protected area to say we

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have the largest marine protected area.

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It's a marine protected has zones, the

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specific zones to meet all the criteria

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that I mentioned earlier, the cultural

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aspect, the science aspect, the

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environmental aspect, right? And

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protecting it from future threats such as

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deep sea mining is really important here.

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So additional measures, so strengthening

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fisheries management with public input,

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just as I mentioned before, banning deep

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sea mining and fish aggregating devices

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will help and allow these populations to

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recover within this marine protected area

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and then spill over outside the

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boundaries to allow better fisheries in

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the future and more

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sustainable fisheries in the future.

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So obviously emphasizing community

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involvement and traditional ecological

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knowledge is really important in these

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processes. And that's what these did

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seeking international cooperation funding

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from like the Pew charitable trust and

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the IUCN having legal protections require

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enforcement support.

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So this really helped in that. And then

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looking at it comparatively to the

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Phoenix Islands protected area in

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Kiribati, which only covers approximately

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408,000 square kilometers, we're looking

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at an order of magnitude more and other

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MPA examples such as the Ross Sea,

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Papahana, Mokuakea, Coral Sea, none of

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which match the Antarctic Arctic scales,

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but these things are huge.

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This is the largest marine protected area

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to help out with those percentages. It

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stands out as the largest default and in

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its exclusive economic zone and it's EEZ.

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So that's a huge thing for French

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Polynesia. It's leading the battle and

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making sure that we

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protect the 30% by 2030.

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So essentially, on presses in scale and

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ambition, marking a new standard for

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marine protected area, including

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everybody in the area showing that you

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can have inclusive processes with a huge

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marine protected area, which really helps

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and almost its entire

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exclusive economic zone.

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It's a balanced approach conservation

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zones having sustainable traditional

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fishing allowing to happen and future

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planning for more protections, which will

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be great and it demonstrates an effective

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use of ancestral knowledge, strong

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governance and compelling

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model for other nations.

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This is huge. And the challenge now lies

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in the implementation, the enforcement

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and the global support. I think they'll

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get the global support. I'm not sure if

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it'll be financial. Hopefully it will be

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on an ongoing basis. There are different

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ways to fund these types of management

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practices in the future.

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I know the island of Newey that I had on

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a couple of years ago, actually working

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with Conservation International and the

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Blue Nature Alliance, they were able to

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almost like not auction off the property,

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but they were able to support like a

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square kilometer of marine protected area

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for the next 20 years.

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I think if you paid a certain fee, I

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think it was like $240 US or $240

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Canadian. I can't remember. But then you

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got to say, hey, you know what? I'm

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actually supporting this little piece of

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area for the next 20 years so that they

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can implement and enforce these

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management practices.

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And so it really helped by it with that

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global support, which I thought was

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great. So I think this is really

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important. Just imagine protecting nearly

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5 million square

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kilometers of oceans properly.

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It's not considered a paper park or it

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probably won't be considered a paper

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park. I hope it's not. So I think this is

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really great. There's a lot of work that

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needs to be done in creating more marine

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protected areas, whether they be large,

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whether they be small, whether they be a

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network of marine protected areas.

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There's a lot more that we have to do. We

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still have 20 more percent to reach the

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30 by 30. And of course, we need to think

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beyond that. We need to think about near

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shore conservation. We need to think

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about offshore conservation.

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We need to think a lot more and making

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sure that the marine protect areas that

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we do have are not just paper parks that

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get implemented with better management

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practices. So there's always work to be

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done. Make sure you follow this podcast

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wherever you listen to your podcast,

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whether it's beyond YouTube, Apple

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podcast, Spotify, whether it's been

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anywhere. Make sure you tune in to hear

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more about ocean use like this.

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And if you want to join the undertow,

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please do so go to speak up for blue.com

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forward slash join the undertow. Be part

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of our community. Be part of the ocean

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community and help guide you to being a

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better ocean steward because we just

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provide you with information and the

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facts of what you need to do. So it's

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always great. Always fun. We're going to

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have a great fun in there. Speak up for

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blue.com forward slash join the undertow.

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That's it for me today. I want to thank

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you so much for joining me on this

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episode of the how to protect the ocean

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podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Lewin from

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the true north strong and free. Have a

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great day. We'll talk to you next time and happy.