Ecologically representative Marine Protected Area planning can think globally and act locally

To date, Marine Protected Area (MPA) planning has been regional. Over half of the current MPA are outside the areas identified as a priority for the protection of global biodiversity in all global and High Seas studies. Using systematic planning, an MPA network could be representative of all marine biodiversity in half of the ocean area and could be representative of between 70% and 90% of biodiversity in 30% of the ocean area. We found that 1% of the ocean was overlapped by the global studies. This 1% should be prioritised internationally and nationally as fully protected MPA which prohibit people from killing wildlife and damaging habitats. Species range maps suggest this 1% may include up to half of some groups of marine species.