World Oceans Day is celebrated every June 8 to raise awareness about the conservation of Earth’s oceans. In honor of World Oceans Day 2026, the United Nations is focused on marine protected areas (MPA), and the goal of protecting 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. The world collectively reached a third of the goal in April 2026, MPAs now cover 10% of oceans. Another 20% will need to be protected over the next four years to reach the 30% goal. New Marine Protected Areas The latest additions of MPAs included 284 marine or coastal protected areas in Indonesia and Thailand. This year, Ghana also declared its first MPA, the Greater Cape Three Points MPA, after more than 15 years of efforts. And in September 2025, Pakistan protected the key biodiversity hotspot of Miani Hor Lagoon, home to dalmatian pelicans (Pelecanus crispus) and great black-headed gulls (Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus). French Polynesia, a Pacific territory controlled by France, declared the world’s largest MPA in June 2025. It covers the archipelagos’ entire exclusive economic zone; 4.8 million square kilometers (roughly 1.9 million square miles) of ocean gained official protection with overwhelming local support. Some MPAs allow bottom trawling While there has been progress, experts have also highlighted that some MPAs do not have enough protection. Throughout Europe, many MPAs still allow bottom trawling, a damaging fishing practice that drags weighted nets across the seafloor. Though bottom trawling targets just a few commercially viable species, a recent study found such nets collect roughly 3,000 distinct…This article was originally published on Mongabay

A massive slab of wartime concrete blocked the Pčinja River in Kumanovo, North Macedonia for more than 70 years. A 53-meter-long and 30-meter-wide (174 by 98 feet) structure of reinforced concrete packed with salvaged railway steel impeded the free flow of water and fish for at least 70 kilometers (44 miles) upstream. It was considered a safety hazard by the local Shuplji Kamen community. In late 2025, the barrier was demolished after efforts by the nation’s Eko-svest environmental organization. It was the first large-scale removal of its type in North Macedonia. It was also one of 603 obsolete river barriers, including dams, weirs and culverts, removed from European rivers in 2025, according to the 2025 Dam Removal Europe report. Researchers estimated removing those objects reconnected more than 3,740 km (2,324 miles) of rivers across the continent, a new single year record for dam removal in Europe. “Barrier removal [is] one of the biggest ecological ‘easy wins’ available today,” Chris Baker, director of Wetlands International Europe (WIE) wrote in a statement. “These obsolete barriers no longer provide any benefits, yet they continue to degrade rivers.” According to WIE, there are roughly 1.2 million barriers in place today that fragment Europe’s rivers, of them more than 150,000 are “considered obsolete.” Since 2020, nearly 2,300 dams have been removed across Europe, mostly in Sweden, Finland and Spain. Iceland, along with North Macedonia, carried out its first removal in 2025. Iceland removed an old hydroelectric dam that was no longer in use. The barrier…This article was originally published on Mongabay