LARGE-SCALE marine protection is gaining momentum in Asia, with governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and communities coming together to address the pressing issues facing our oceans. Representatives from governments, academia and NGOs addressed the urgent need for science-based, community-driven strategies that will safeguard 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030 in the Asia Regional Large-Scale Marine Protected Area (LSMPA) Workshop from Nov. 19 to 21, 2025, in Iloilo City. They came from across Asia, including Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives, Vietnam and the Solomon Islands.
“With the highest nearshore marine biodiversity in the world, Asia has long been at the forefront of coastal protection,” said Laure Katz, executive director of the Blue Nature Alliance, which organized the workshop in partnership with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) Philippines.
“The potential for Asia is huge,” said Big Ocean Director Naiʻa Lewis. “It can be a trailblazer, creating a ‘Big Ocean 2.0,’ leading the second wave of large-scale protection and showing the world that fisheries, food security and conservation can be addressed together.”
Katz said the group highlighted the “urgency to extend marine protection to areas beyond 12 nautical miles through advancing science-policy-community interrelationships, preparing the foundations for an Asia Regional LSMPA Community of Practice and developing a road map for large-scale marine protection.”
The workshop was co-hosted by Big Ocean, a peer-learning network designed by and for managers of large-scale marine areas, with technical and financial support from the Alliance. Participants shared insights on the challenges and opportunities in ocean protection at scale, from policy gaps and governance issues to climate impacts, illegal fishing and transboundary protection. They emphasized the importance of responding to the main pressures on Asia’s marine ecosystems: pollution, climate change, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, sea-level rise and habitat destruction.
The workshop’s key takeaways included the need to align marine conservation with food security objectives; develop long-term and equitable financing mechanisms with government support; harmonize ocean-related policies for easier adoption; and enhance public participation in conservation.
One ambitious project was the proposed Philippine Rise Ocean Conservation Area, implemented by ZSL in partnership with the Department of Agriculture–Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Fisheries Management Area 1 and the Alliance. It aims to protect approximately 150,000 square kilometers of ocean, potentially making it Asia’s largest single marine protected area (MPA) and supporting long-term food security.
ZSL Philippines Country Director Edwina Garchitorena said that the thinking around MPAs has long been at a much smaller scale. “We know the challenges remain — from community understanding to governance alignment — but we also know the impact will be there. We are committed to helping make this shift happen.”
The Alliance maintains that partnership is key to advancing ocean conservation. “The Blue Nature Alliance is working with over 130 partners globally to advance ocean conservation in 5 percent of the world’s ocean as a significant contribution to the global 30x30 goal,” Katz said.
