Countries around the globe must join together, raise ambition and act faster to protect and restore nature on both land and sea, Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey has said on World Wildlife Day - she is today calling for countries to join together to halt and reverse the loss of nature and protect at least 30% of the world's ocean by 2030.

Following the historic agreement reached at the UN Biodiversity summit last year, the Environment Secretary is attending the Our Ocean conference where she will work with other countries to make this the decade to halt and reverse the loss of nature and protect at least 30% of the global ocean by 2030.

She will also acknowledge the effectiveness of established tools such as CITES convention that celebrates 50 years of protecting endangered species today.

Building on commitments outlined in the Government’s Environmental Improvement Plan launched last month and progress to protect nature on land, the UK is this week announcing funding to boost marine conservation efforts worldwide, fight climate change, and support vulnerable coastal communities.

The UK has renewed support through its £500 million Blue Planet Fund to protect and restore important marine habitats such as mangroves, coral reefs and seagrasses that play a key role in the fight against climate change.

This includes an additional £24 million to the Global Fund for Coral Reefs, and the UK becoming the first donor to the Blue Carbon Action Partnership, committing £4 million to support countries unlock and mobilise finance to protect and restore blue carbon ecosystems.

The Environment Secretary has also announced £45 million to the new ‘Blue Tech Superhighway’ project. From community-led fisheries management enabling local communities to set and monitor their own catches; new seawater farming systems working with species more resilient to warmer waters; through to pioneering approaches to reduce food waste, this investment will support small-scale fishers and aquaculture farmers improve their climate resilience, sustainability and incomes. The project will also encourage collaboration between countries across Asia and Africa to scale action.

The UK has also announced it will provide £1.5 million to the Asian Development Bank’s new Blue Pacific Finance Hub to support climate resilient, sustainable blue economies for Pacific Small Island Developing States including developing circular economies to reduce plastic waste and improved fisheries management.

Thérèse Coffey said:

“”It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of stepping up our efforts to bolster the resilience of the marine environment and, in turn, the economies and communities that depend on it.

“At the UN nature summit in Montreal, we made a commitment to manage our whole ocean sustainably and set a target to protect at least 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030. The UK is leading, co-leading, and supporting global coalitions of ambition to drive forward this mission, and I urge countries to come together to deliver coordinated, impactful action on the ground.”