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Ambitious biodiversity goals to protect 30% or more of the Earth’s surface by 2030 (30x30) require strategic near-term targets. To define areas that must be protected to prevent the most likely and imminent extinctions, we propose Conservation Imperatives—16,825 unprotected sites spanning ~164 Mha of the terrestrial realm that harbor rare and threatened species. We estimate that protecting the Conservation Imperatives would cost approximately US$169 billion (90% probability: US$146—US$228 billion).

Global calls for greater ocean protection have sparked renewed interest in very large marine protected areas (VLMPAs, >100,000 km2) to achieve management targets; however, their conservation value is debated.

Today the world faces three interconnected crises: biodiversity loss, climate change, and unsustainable debt, each greatly exacerbating the other. Governments, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) have increasingly focused on using commercial debt refinancing to simultaneously take action in support of conservation, build resilience to environmental change, and reduce or reprofile sovereign debt.

Crown-of-thorns seastars (COTS, Acanthaster spp.) are the most notorious coral predators, whose devastating outbreaks cause recurrent and extensive coral depletion across Indo-Pacific reefs. However, the spread potential of COTS outbreaks and the anthropogenic role in their initiation have remained a subject of intense debate for over five decades.

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This study seeks to shed light on the rates and drivers of tree cover loss in island catchments focusing on a case study from Fiji. Global Forest Watch (GFW) is critically assessed as a framework for quantifying terrestrial tree cover loss and associated forest carbon stocks. The study assesses the role of the drivers of tree cover loss identified by GFW global models including anthropogenic deforestation: shifting agriculture, wildfires, urbanisation and plantation forestry as well as other drivers outside of the globally standardised list.

The  Blue  Carbon  Finance  Toolbox  aims  to  provide  the  global  blue  carbon  community  with  an  overall  guide  to  understanding  and  leveraging  finance  mechanisms  that  support  the  conservation,  restoration,  and  sustainable  management    of    blue    carbon    ecosystems.

If the ocean was a state of its own, it would be the seventh largest economy in the world – with a “gross marine product” of at least US$ 2.5 trillion per year. This Blue Economy is underpinned by diverse ecosystems that provide valuable services to the world, be it fishing, tourism or shipping. On the one hand, the ocean is undoubtedly an important part of the world economy. On the other hand, its asset base, that is to say its capital, is steadily declining. This is because the sea is a commons.

mo e ngaahi Feitu’u Pule’i Makehe pe Special Management Areas (SMA). Ko e kaveinga, ke fai ha ako mo ha fevahevahe’aki fekau’aki mo hono fokotu’u mo fakalele ‘o e ngaue ni ‘i Tonga ni. Ne fakalele mo fokotu’utu’u ‘a e konifelenisi ni ‘e he MACBIO (ko e polokalama ngaue ki hono tokangaekina, pule’i mo malu’i ‘o e ngaahi me’amo’ui kotoa ‘i ‘oseni ‘o tautefito ki he ngaahi matafanga ‘i he Pasifiki). Ne kau atu mo e Potungaue Toutai pea mo e Sosaieti Sivile ‘a Tonga ‘i hono fakalele ‘o e konifelenisi ni ki ha kau fakafofonga ‘e toko 65 mei he ngaahi tapa kehekehe ‘o Tonga .

Marine spatial planning is underway now, or starting, in many Pacific Island countries, including the Solomon Islands. This planning aims, amongst other things, to achieve the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) Aichi Target 11 which states, in part, that at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas are conserved through ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas. For the Solomon Islands, means to achieve an ecologically representative system of marine protected areas is missing.

Marine spatial planning is underway now, or starting, in many Pacific Island countries, including Tonga. This planning aims, amongst other things, to achieve the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) Aichi Target 11 which states, in part, that at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas are conserved through ecologically representative and wellconnected systems of protected areas. However, means for countries who have signed on to the CBD to achieve an ecologically representative system of marine protected areas is missing.