Canada joins Global Ocean Alliance

Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced July 9 that Canada – the nation with the world’s longest coastline – is joining other countries to advocate for international action to increase the conservation and protection of oceans by 2030. The Global Ocean Alliance’s goal is to advocate with international partners for ambitious steps to protect at least 30 per cent of the world’s oceans by establishing marine protected areas and other effective area-based marine conservation measures by 2030.

Since 2015, the Government of Canada has worked in partnership with provinces and territories, Indigenous peoples, and environmental and industry organizations to increase ocean protection. Canada aimed to conserve 10 per cent of the country’s marine and coastal areas by 2020 and has already surpassed this goal, reaching nearly 14 per cent by August 2019. The Government of Canada continues to work toward its ambitious target of protecting 25 per cent of marine and coastal areas by 2025, and 30 per cent by 2030.

Canada is joining the Global Ocean Alliance to help galvanize international efforts towards a 30-per-cent conservation goal that permits the marine environment and sustainable marine economies to thrive.