Oceans cover 70% of the Earth’s surface and support an extraordinarily diverse world. Only a fraction of it has been discovered so far and much of ocean life remains a mystery which IUCN experts are striving to unveil.
It is estimated that more than 1 million species live on coral reefs alone, and as many as 10 million in the deep seas.
The threats facing the marine environment are numerous and complex yet less than 2% of the oceans are protected.
Learn more
About marine and polar conservation
What's new?
IUCN experts part of new online course on marine biology in the Deep Ocean
TED talks by aquatic explorers including IUCN patron Sylvia Earle, who share what they’ve seen in the Earth’s last frontier — the deep ocean, are now available as part of an online course. …
07 May 2013 | Article
Improved Management of the Bering Strait
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) have undertaken a cooperative project to identify measures that could be adopted to protect important areas of the Bering Strait region, including ecologically and biologically sensitive areas (EBSAs) and to explore ways in which such measures might be implemented. …
02 May 2013 | News story
EU countries must do more to protect biodiversity
European Union countries should step up their conservation efforts and fully implement the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 to prevent species from going extinct, according to a recent analysis of the European Red List coordinated by IUCN. … | French | Spanish
02 May 2013 | News story
