Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Rejected
Expand Highly Protected Marine Areas network to 10% of UK waters by 2030, publishing designation plan.
Recommendation
We urge the Government to expand the network of Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMA) to 10% of UK waters by 2030 to meet 30by30 targets, based on the evidence of their effectiveness in enabling marine nature recovery. The Marine Recovery Fund should be used to assist the establishment of new HPMAs. To ensure consistent progress across the UK, the Government should also consider using the UK Marine Policy Statement to set indicative targets or expectations for HPMA coverage within each devolved administration. This would help ensure that the 30by30 target is met through coordinated contributions from all nations. The plan for designating more HPMAs should be published in a report by January 2026. (Recommendation, Paragraph 72)
Government response summary AI-generated
The government rejects the recommendation to expand HPMAs to 10% of UK waters by 2030 and publish a plan by January 2026, disagreeing with setting specific HPMA targets. They state that 40% of English waters are already MPAs, meeting the 30by30 target, and they are reviewing the overall MPA network, which will consider the role of further HPMAs.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.