Conservation Planet has three parts that tell one story. Each answers a different question about ocean recovery.
Protecting Oceans. Preserving Futures.
A growing record of ocean conservation victories, the organizations behind them, and the science that explains why protection works.
Conservation Planet has three parts that tell one story. Each answers a different question about ocean recovery.
What happened when places chose protection? Documented stories of recovery from around the world.
Who is making it happen? Profiles of the organizations that protect the ocean, and how you can help.
Why does protection work? Six plain-language pieces on the science behind the stories.
The 50 victories fall into four pathways to recovery. Where the evidence is mixed, the story says so.
Complete Protection. Strong no-take protection, where nature can rebuild over years.
Species Recovery. Targeted protection that brings species back from the brink.
Community-Led. Local communities, usually with partners, showing how it is done.
Individual Achievement. Proof that one person can start something big.
For decades, conservation messaging has focused on loss, decline, and disaster. The warnings were necessary, but fear alone does not show people what to do. Communities need to see that protection can pay off. Governments and funders need evidence that it works.
Conservation Planet shifts the focus from what we are losing to what has already been won. These are real places, with real numbers, and each page lists the sources behind them.
Tell the full story of each recovery, with the numbers, the people, and the caveats.
Show who is doing the work, what they have won, and how readers can support them.
Turn the research into plain language, so anyone can understand why protection works.
Across the victories, five patterns come up again and again.
A global analysis found fish biomass 670% higher in no-take reserves than in unprotected areas, and 343% higher than in partially protected areas (Sala and Giakoumi, 2018).
Protection lasts when the people closest to the ocean share in the gains and help make the rules.
At Cabo Pulmo and Cabo de Palos, people who once opposed protection came to defend it.
Cabo Pulmo's fish biomass rose 463% in about a decade. Slower-growing species can take decades to a century or more.
Tourism, spillover into nearby fisheries, and carbon storage in coastal habitats can all follow. The size of the benefit varies from place to place.
Every victory is expected to show:
Measurable Recovery: documented increases in biomass, population, habitat quality, or ecosystem health, with a source.
Genuine Protection: real enforcement of no-take zones or a significant reduction in exploitation, not just a paper park.
Community Benefit: local people gaining from protection through tourism, employment, or spillover, where this applies.
Honest Caveats: where the evidence is mixed or a recovery is still fragile, the story says so.
We want every community to know these stories and to see protection as an investment that can pay for the people closest to the ocean, not only a sacrifice. We want governments, funders, and young people to see what is possible, and to act on it.
The ocean does not need us to save it. It needs us to stop harming it, and then it can begin to heal.
This is a living collection. If you know of a marine conservation victory, or an organization whose work deserves recognition, we want to hear from you.