Identifying global marine climate refugia through a conservative approach to ocean biodiversity preservation

Hongfei Zhuang, Linlin Zhao, Zongling Wang, Zhaohui Zhang () and Li Yang ()
Additional contact information
Hongfei Zhuang: Ministry of Natural Resources of the People’s Republic of China, Observation and Research Station of Bohai Eco-Corridor, First Institute of Oceanography
Linlin Zhao: Ministry of Natural Resources of the People’s Republic of China, Observation and Research Station of Bohai Eco-Corridor, First Institute of Oceanography
Zongling Wang: Ministry of Natural Resources of the People’s Republic of China, Observation and Research Station of Bohai Eco-Corridor, First Institute of Oceanography
Zhaohui Zhang: Ministry of Natural Resources of the People’s Republic of China, Observation and Research Station of Bohai Eco-Corridor, First Institute of Oceanography
Li Yang: Sun Yat-Sen University, School of Ecology

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Global changes threaten marine species, making marine climate refugia essential for biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation. Our analysis maps sensitive and stability zones across the global ocean. We define marine climate refugia as climate-resilient zones with global conservation consensus under the worst-case emissions scenario for 2100. Marine climate refugia span 17.6 million square kilometres, with 96% within exclusive economic zones. Only 34% of oceanic areas and 29% of marine protected areas (MPAs) and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) lie in stability zones. Twenty large-scale patches form the principal bodies of marine climate refugia, with 85% crossing multiple exclusive economic zones. Conservation gaps cover 70% of marine climate refugia. Closing these gaps could increase global ocean protection to 14% and exclusive economic zones protection to 30%. To achieve the 30 by 30 target, we recommend expanding MPAs and OECMs based on marine climate refugia locations and addressing transnational management challenges.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65791-z Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-65791-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-65791-z

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().