Our Purpose
Antarctica2030 is a global movement uniting leaders from sport, politics, business, media, and science to champion the protection of Antarctica’s Southern Ocean. Together, we aim to secure the greatest act of ocean conservation in history by getting CCAMLR to establish a network of representative marine protected areas (MPAs).
About Us
Antarctica2030 is calling for high-level leadership, multilateral cooperation, and sustained diplomatic efforts to ensure action is taken to protect the Southern Ocean—the world’s greatest remaining ocean wilderness.
This protection will safeguard Antarctica’s precious marine life, build global resilience to the effects of climate change, and create an environmental legacy that will benefit humanity for generations.
The Issue
The Southern Ocean around Antarctica is the icy heartbeat of our blue planet and its survival is vital for global ocean health and the rest of the world’s survival.
Through its powerful currents, Antarctica’s ocean regulates our oxygen production and climate. Its vast icy expanses keep our planet cool and liveable, storing 75% of excess heat generated by burning fossil fuels. Its powerful current acts as a global ocean conveyor belt, driving key nutrients to feed the global ocean, which in turn provides food for the entire planet and livelihoods for more than 3 billion people who depend on marine and coastal resources. It is also home to some of the world’s most breath-taking wildlife including penguins, whales, seals, and the tiny but mighty krill.
Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are experiencing disproportionate impacts of climate change with accelerated degradation and sea-ice loss impacting ecosystems and the services they provide, as well as driving sea-level rise globally. Parts of Antarctica have warmed more than two times faster than the global average in recent years. We are fast reaching devastating tipping points in the region and the need for climate action and biodiversity protection is paramount.
In addition to the impacts of climate change, increased pressure from industrial fishing is adding environmental stress, making it harder for predators to find food. Large-scale krill fisheries are directly competing with whales, penguins, and other marine life for this vital resource. This competition threatens the resilience and balance of the whole ecosystem.
The Solution
Science tells us that to preserve ocean life and strengthen the resilience of its ecosystems and wildlife to climate change, we need to establish marine protected areas (MPAs).
MPAs provide protection for marine life, building resilience and helping alleviate the negative impacts of the climate crisis by removing additional stressors, such as fishing. They also provide important scientific reference areas to facilitate monitoring the impacts of fisheries and climate change.
The protection of the Southern Ocean is a defining challenge for our time, with the power to unite countries in pursuit of a shared future for our planet. Protecting large Antarctic marine areas will boost ocean protection by an order of magnitude greater than anything achieved before. We have a once-in-a-generation chance to do things differently, starting in Antarctica.
30x30 Vision
A BOLD 30X30 VISION TO PROTECT ANTARCTICA’S SOUTHERN OCEAN
Just as the world came together in 1959 to set aside Antarctica for peace and science, we now need to come together to protect Antarctica’s waters to provide a lasting environmental legacy for future generations.
In 2009, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) — the intergovernmental body overseeing the management and conservation of the Southern Ocean— committed to establish a network of MPAs in the Southern Ocean. To date only two have been established in the South Orkneys in 2009 and the world’s largest MPA in the Ross Sea in 2016.
But the Southern Ocean is increasingly under threat and progress on protection has stalled. CCAMLR, made up of 26 countries and the European Union, still needs to agree by consensus to the designation of four large-scale MPAs in the East Antarctic, Weddell Sea Phase 1 and Phase 2, and Antarctic Peninsula. This will boost the protection of the Southern Ocean by almost a further 4 million km2, guaranteeing the greatest act of ocean protection in history.
Furthermore, agreeing to protect these areas would be a major step toward achieving the global biodiversity target of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030. In December 2022, all governments party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF) that includes the commitment to protect at least 30% of the ocean by 2030 — the 30x30 target. The four MPAs under negotiation cover 13% of the Southern Ocean. With existing MPAs, the designation of these would enable the protection of 26% of the Southern Ocean and 2.6% of the global ocean.
This historic protection can be a key milestone towards ensuring the necessary full and effective protection of the whole of Antarctica’s mighty Southern Ocean.
