World’s Largest Protected Ocean: a Whopping 5 Million Square Kilometers!

The South Pacific Ocean Island country of French Polynesia vowed to create the world’s largest Marine Protected Area (MPA), which will cover the entirety of the nation’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), restricting extractive practices to protect the ocean, its ecosystems, and biodiversity.

“We have been managing this EEZ wisely for centuries, using the techniques that were passed on from the generations before us and our ancestors,” exclaims French Polynesia’s President, Moetai Brotherson. “But now we wanted to take a bold step to be in line with the international standards of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.”

French Polynesia’s EEZ is almost 5 million km², and as an MPA, extractive practices like deep-sea mining and bottom-trawling will be restricted. Of that 5 million, 1.1 million km2 will be designated as a highly or fully protected area, meaning that only traditional coastal fishing, ecotourism, and scientific exploration will be allowed. By next year’s World Ocean Day, which falls on June 8, 2026, French Polynesia will expand its highly protected area by 500,000 km². In 2020, more than 100 countries signed the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People. Its goal was to protect 30% of the oceans by 2030. Much remains to be done to reach that goal. According to Dynamic Planet and National Geographic Pristine Seas, 85 new MPAs need to be created daily from now until 2030. Small island nations should be at the forefront of ocean protection, which is what French Polynesia is actively doing. Samoa also pledged to protect 30% of its national waters, roughly the size of Taiwan, by 2030.