Most marine areas with restrictions on human activities fail to significantly reduce the pressure on marine ecosystems. Truly protected zones account for just 0.2% of EU national waters. In five years, this figure is expected to rise to 10% to meet biodiversity targets.
Marine Protected Areas: 86% Offer “Poor, Minimal, or No” Protection
Human pressure on marine ecosystems in Europe remains excessively high, and tools to mitigate human impact on coasts and seas are largely ineffective. Instead of restoring nature through Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Europe is on track to miss its 2030 biodiversity targets set by the Biodiversity Strategy.
The main issue? More than 80% of Europe’s MPAs provide “poor, minimal, or no” protection against high-impact activities such as mining, trawling, and dredging, according to a study published in One Earth. This study, which analyzed 4,858 MPAs in Europe with data up to 2022, reveals that while MPAs officially cover 11.4% of European waters (over 610,000 km²), the actual level of protection is often inadequate.
The 2022 data shows that 86% of formally protected European waters are subjected to industrial activities harming biodiversity and ecosystems, with only 1.5% of these MPAs offering high or full protection—just 0.2% of European waters.
Italy has one of the higher percentages of MPAs with high protection levels at 5.7%, but it lags behind countries like Slovenia (18%). Slovenia’s performance makes the Adriatic Sea the European sea with the highest proportion of truly effective protected areas, at 6% of the total.
