Home / news / Extension of funding to securing an expanded UK MPA network which covers 30% of UK national waters by 2030

Extension of funding to securing an expanded UK MPA network which covers 30% of UK national waters by 2030

Extension of funding to securing an expanded UK MPA network which covers 30% of UK national waters by 2030

October 2022

In 2020, Becht Foundation agreed to support Greenpeace and its campaign to establish a network of highly or fully protected MPAs in UK waters.

This support has helped to drive UK offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) up the political agenda, securing a permanent ban on destructive bottom trawling in four offshore UK Marine Protected Areas, and a consultation on closing a further 13 MPAs to bottom trawlers.

These are important steps in the right direction but there is still a great deal to be done in order for the UK government to deliver 30 x 30.  The UK is seen as a global leader in the ocean protection space, with 29.25% of its national waters protected. However, not only are these MPAs ineffectively implemented, destructive fishing practices such as bottom trawling are also allowed which continues to decimate the unique biodiversity of the UK waters. Becht Foundation has agreed to extend its funding to Greenpeace and its campaign to protect UK’s national waters and ban all industrial extractive activity within it.  Find out more

Back to News & Announcements