--- title: French Polynesia Sets World's Largest Marine Protected Area description: By prioritizing marine conservation, the small island nation has "set a new standard for leadership" one expert said. canonical: https://time.com/7292420/french-polynesia-announces-new-marine-protected-area/ author: Simmone Shah article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-06-09T19:19:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2025-06-10T18:56:37.000Z article:section: Climate og:title: French Polynesia Creates World's Largest Marine Protected Area og:description: By prioritizing marine conservation, the small island nation has "set a new standard for leadership" one expert said. og:url: https://time.com/7292420/french-polynesia-announces-new-marine-protected-area/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd8232a9b687361b/6998c7571500fbfa4daa656e/french-polynesia-ocean-marine-protected-area-conservation.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Outer Slop Of The Reef - Tatakoto og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: French Polynesia Creates World's Largest Marine Protected Area twitter:description: By prioritizing marine conservation, the small island nation has "set a new standard for leadership" one expert said. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd8232a9b687361b/6998c7571500fbfa4daa656e/french-polynesia-ocean-marine-protected-area-conservation.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # French Polynesia Just Created The World's Largest Marine Protected Area > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Simmone Shah](https://time.com/author/simmone-shah/)  ## Simmone Shah Reporter Updated: Jun 10, 2025 6:56 PM UTCPublished: Jun 9, 2025 7:19 PM UTC  Corals on the outer slop of the lagoon in Tatakoto, a remote atoll in French Polynesia. Corals on the outer slop of the lagoon in Tatakoto, a remote atoll in French Polynesia. Alexis Rosenfeld—Getty Images  by [Simmone Shah](https://time.com/author/simmone-shah/)  ## Simmone Shah Reporter Updated: Jun 10, 2025 6:56 PM UTCPublished: Jun 9, 2025 7:19 PM UTC French Polynesia announced the creation of the world’s largest Marine Protected Area (MPA), at [the U.N. Ocean Conference](https://time.com/7292295/whats-at-stake-un-global-ocean-conference/) in France on Monday. The MPA will cover the entirety of the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), almost 5 million square kilometers (more than 1.9 million square miles) and will restrict extractive practices like deep-sea mining and bottom-trawling, a destructive type of fishing that drags large nets along the seafloor. Of that 5 million, 1.1 million square kilometers (424,712 square miles) will be designated as a highly or fully protected area, known as class 1 and 2, where only traditional coastal fishing, ecotourism, and scientific exploration, will be allowed. The government has also pledged to add an additional 500,000 square kilometers (193, 051 square miles) to the highly protected area by World Ocean Day 2026. “We have been managing this EEZ wisely for centuries, using the techniques that were passed on from the generations before us and our ancestors,” French Polynesia’s President, Moetai Brotherson, told TIME. “But now we wanted to take a bold step to be in line with the international standards of the \[International Union for Conservation of Nature\] IUCN.” IUCN standards for MPAs require the area to include, among other things, defined goals and objectives for conservation along with ensuring the resources and capacity to effectively implement. Research has [shown](https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/the-ups-and-downs-of-marine-protected-areas-examining-the-evidence/) that MPAs help marine animals recover within their boundaries, and could prove a useful [tool](https://iucn.org/resources/issues-brief/marine-protected-areas-and-climate-change#:~:text=Marine%20Protected%20Areas%20%28MPAs%29%20are,while%20providing%20other%20ecosystem%20services.) for supporting climate change adaptation and mitigation. **Read more:** [_Fishing Communities in the Philippines Are Fighting for their Future as Waters Rise_](https://time.com/7289533/philippines-fishing-communities-rising-water/) French Polynesia has been steadfast in its efforts to conserve its exclusive economic zone. In 2018, the country announced that it would classify the entirety of its EEZ as a Managed Marine Area. This announcement, Brotherson says, builds on those efforts by increasing the level of conservation. “There were some measures of protection that didn't match the \[IUCN\] standards,” Brotherson says. “So we upgraded our local regulation to match all the standards of the IUCN.” “This is an extraordinary achievement and a globally significant contribution to the protection of our One Ocean,” Grethel Aguilar, IUCN Director General, said in a [statement](https://iucn.org/press-release/202506/major-breakthrough-marine-conservation-unveiled-un-ocean-conference). “By prioritizing biodiversity, traditional knowledge, and future generations, French Polynesia has set a new standard for leadership in marine conservation. These commitments show that small Island territories can have a massive impact on global sustainability.” But much remains to be done. Research from Dynamic Planet and National Geographic Pristine Seas [found](https://www.ourdynamicplanet.com/2025/06/09/study-reveals-85-new-coastal-marine-protected-areas-are-needed-daily-to-meet-ocean-protection-target-by-2030/) that 85 new marine protected areas would need to be created daily from now until 2030 in order to meet the goal of protecting [30% of the oceans by 2030](https://hacfornatureandpeople.org/), as set by the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People in 2020 and signed by over 100 countries. So far, only [8.3%](https://www.globalplasticaction.org/resources/publications/the-push-for-30%C3%9730-ocean-protection-goal-needs-to-be-locally-led/22d88d3f4b61fc3e77c85ee4dcff19cd2714ad64) of the ocean is currently protected as MPAs. **Read more:** [_One Man’s Quest to Heal the Oceans—And Maybe Save the World_](https://time.com/6307205/enric-sala-ocean-conservation/) Ahead of the U.N. Ocean Conference, Samoa also announced that it would protect 30% of its national waters, an area roughly the size of Taiwan. Small island nations, Brotherson says, should be on the frontlines when it comes to ocean protection. “\[Island nations\] EEZs account for 7% of all the ocean surface, but we have only 0.1% of the total GDP in the world,” he says. “We don't have the financial means that match the responsibility that we have towards the ocean.” But Brotherson notes that international cooperation is essential to ensure protections are enacted. “It's very important to us that big countries, big players, large NGOs, can help us implement the measures that we vote \[on\],” he says. “Because it's one thing to pass a law. It's another story to make sure that it is respected.” **Correction, June 10** The original version of this story misstated the number of marine protected areas researchers say need to be created by 2030\. It is 85 per day, not total. **Read more from TIME's Ocean Issue** [_The World Isn't Valuing Oceans Properly_](https://time.com/7290417/world-oceans-value/) [_'Ignorance' Is the Most Pressing Issue Facing Ocean Conservation, Says Sylvia Earle_](https://time.com/7290408/sylvia-earle-ocean-interview/) [_Meet the Marine Biologist Working to Protect Our Oceans from Deep-Sea Mining_](https://time.com/7290414/deep-sea-mining-diva-amon-biologist-interview/) [_Geopolitical Tensions are Shaping the Future of our Oceans_](https://time.com/7290403/geopolitical-tensions-future-of-oceans/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7292420/french-polynesia-announces-new-marine-protected-area/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7292420/french-polynesia-announces-new-marine-protected-area/"},"headline":"French Polynesia Just Created The World's Largest Marine Protected Area","datePublished":"2025-06-09T19:19:34.000Z","dateModified":"2025-06-10T18:56:37.000Z","description":"By prioritizing marine conservation, the small island nation has \"set a new standard for leadership\" one expert said.","url":"https://time.com/7292420/french-polynesia-announces-new-marine-protected-area/","keywords":["Oceans","climate change","News","healthscienceclimate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd8232a9b687361b/6998c7571500fbfa4daa656e/french-polynesia-ocean-marine-protected-area-conservation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Simmone Shah","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/simmone-shah/"}],"articleSection":"Climate","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd8232a9b687361b/6998c7571500fbfa4daa656e/french-polynesia-ocean-marine-protected-area-conservation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Outer Slop Of The Reef - Tatakoto","caption":"Corals on the outer slop of the lagoon in Tatakoto, French Polynesia, a remote atoll.","creditText":"Alexis Rosenfeld—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/climate/","name":"Climate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/oceans/","name":"Oceans"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7292420/french-polynesia-announces-new-marine-protected-area/","name":"French Polynesia Just Created The World's Largest Marine Protected Area"}}]}] ```