The Blue Parks initiative unites the ocean’s best protected places and the people who champion them in a strategic network to save life in the sea.
The Blue Parks initiative accelerates effective ocean conservation.
The Blue Park Standard sets a science-based benchmark for marine protected area quality.
Prestigious Blue Park Awards incentivize the Standard.
Blue Spark collaborations support local leaders working to achieve the Standard.
Blue Parks
Assembling a Global Network
The Blue Parks initiative aims to safeguard marine biodiversity by assembling a strategic network of effective MPAs that includes replicate representation of all marine ecosystems in each biogeographic region and supports marine population persistence.
Blue Parks Benefits
The award, which confers prestige, funding leverage and ecotourism opportunities, aligns governments' interests with biodiversity conservation. The Blue Park Standard is a global benchmark for conservation effectiveness, and Blue Parks provide models of marine conservation success.
Blue Parks is endorsed by the UN Ocean Decade
We need standards to ensure that marine protected areas (MPAs) truly protect marine biodiversity.
We launched the Blue Parks initiative to celebrate effective MPAs and incentivize governments, managers, and communities to achieve effective conservation.
Blue Parks are the MPAs in the right places with the right rules and the right management to safeguard wildlife. The Blue Park Criteria are based on the science of MPA conservation effectiveness.
Celebrate these conservation successes with us! Together we can protect marine life in every ocean ecosystem.
