Protecting coastal waters may be the best investment you’ve never heard of, says Kristin Rechberger

The ocean has long been treated as the world’s forgotten frontier—out of sight, out of mind, and dangerously overused. Yet efforts to reverse decades of neglect are gathering speed. Last week saw the launch of Revive Our Ocean, a new initiative aimed at helping coastal communities create marine protected areas (MPAs) to restore both marine life and local economies.

The effort, led by Dynamic Planet with support from National Geographic’s Pristine Seas initiative, comes at a pivotal time. In 2023, countries agreed to a historic treaty to safeguard ocean biodiversity. But of the 100-plus nations that signed, only 21 have ratified the deal, with crucial backers such as the United States notably absent. With a 2030 deadline looming to protect 30% of the oceans, Revive Our Ocean’s founders argue that waiting for governments alone will not be enough.

“We’ve seen that marine protection works,” says Kristin Rechberger, founder of Dynamic Planet and the force behind the new initiative. “But the creation of MPAs has been far too slow. To meet 30×30, the world would need to establish over 190,000 new protected areas. That’s why we’re focusing on communities—those who know their waters best.”

Rechberger’s optimism is grounded in experience. Over the past decade, Dynamic Planet and Pristine Seas have supported the creation of 29 of the world’s largest marine reserves, covering nearly seven million square kilometers, mostly in remote national waters. Now, attention is shifting closer to shore, where coastal populations live, fish, and depend on healthy seas for their livelihoods.

Revive Our Ocean seeks to equip communities with the tools, policy support, and training needed to establish local MPAs. Starting with partners in Britain, Greece, Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey, Portugal, and the Philippines, the initiative blends lessons from past offshore successes with the realities of coastal life. 

Marine protection near coasts faces three barriers, Rechberger explains: awareness, policy, and know-how.

Indeed, in many countries, local governments lack the legal authority to create MPAs. Even where rules permit it, communities often lack the expertise or incentives to push forward. Revive Our Ocean aims to change that by providing practical resources, media campaigns, and policy advocacy. Their ambition is to make marine reserves as commonplace as waste management systems or public parks.

The economic argument is compelling. A well-designed MPA does not just revive marine life; it revitalizes coastal economies. Rechberger points to Spain’s Medes Islands Marine Reserve, a mere one square kilometer of no-take zone that generates €16m annually in tourism revenue, dwarfing earnings from nearby fishing. 

“Coastal marine protection is a good business,” she notes. 

In Mexico, dive tourism now approaches the fishing industry in value in some areas, suggesting a broader blueprint for prosperity.

Nonetheless, achieving scale will be difficult. As Enric Sala, head of Pristine Seas, bluntly put it to Reuters, “the worst enemy of fishing is overfishing.” 

Ocean degradation has reached a point where even fishers—once wary of restrictions—are now demanding protections. On the Greek island of Amorgos, for example, local fishers organized themselves to form a marine reserve after their catches plummeted.

Such community-led initiatives offer hope. They also reveal a more profound shift: a growing recognition that conservation and economic growth are not necessarily at odds. Reviving marine life can, in fact, revive entire communities. 

“[It’s] thrilling,” says Rechberger. “Protection helps drive economic benefits across multiple sectors, while restoring the health and beauty of coastal ecosystems.”

Still, the clock is ticking. Only about 8% of the ocean is currently under some form of protection, and a mere 3% is fully protected. Without accelerated action, the world risks missing the 30×30 target—an outcome that would not just harm biodiversity but undermine the very economies coastal communities rely on.

Revive Our Ocean’s bet is that by empowering communities and showcasing success stories, marine conservation can catch fire from the ground up. 

“We want MPAs to go viral,” said Rechberger. 

If they do, the world’s oceans—and those who depend on them—may yet have a chance to thrive.

This interview has been lightly edited for brevity.

Disclosure: Kristin Rechberger is a member of Mongabay’s board of directors. 

AN INTERVIEW WITH KRISTIN RECHBERGER

Rhett Ayers Butler for Mongabay:
Who are you and what is Dynamic Planet?

Kristin Rechberger:
I’m Kristin Rechberger. I founded Dynamic Planet, which has been helping build conservation economies around the world for over a decade. That means economies that restore nature rather than deplete it.

Mongabay:
Why do you focus on oceans?

Kristin Rechberger:
The ocean has this miraculous ability to bounce back when you protect it. On land, protection and restoration can take longer to show results. In the ocean, you can see impacts much faster. I’m an impatient person—I like to see results quickly!

I’ve also seen firsthand the miracle of the ocean—and also seeing how long it’s been abused. The ocean has been out of sight and out of mind for too long. To me, there’s this incredibly exciting opportunity to shine a light on a part of the world that makes up 70% of our planet, and really revive it. That’s thrilling to me.

Mongabay:
First, what is Revive Our Ocean? And why did you create it?

Kristin Rechberger:
Revive Our Ocean is an initiative to inspire, enable, and equip coastal communities to create their own marine reserves.

There are a lot of reasons we decided to do this. Let me back up: For over a decade, we’ve been going with National Geographic Pristine Seas to the last wild places in the ocean, helping to protect them before it’s too late. We’ve been working in countries’ waters around the world, and have helped support the creation of 29 of the largest marine protected areas—almost 7 million square kilometers of ocean, most of it no-take zones in remote areas of countries’ national waters.

That pioneering work showed governments the benefits of marine protection, helping drive the global 30×30 campaign—protecting 30% of the planet by 2030. Now, many countries are moving toward marine spatial planning and better national protections.

But remote islands and offshore areas are far from people, and they tend to be more pristine. As you move closer to populated coasts, the ocean is much more heavily used, and much less protected. Despite the amazing work that’s been done by many organizations along coastlines, there’s still a major gap in coastal protection.

To reach the scale and urgency needed for 30×30, we wanted to share our offshore experiences and combine them with the insights of nearshore experts. That’s what Revive Our Ocean is about: co-creating a global initiative that pulls together best practices and lessons learned into a community of practice—making it easier for more people to protect their coastal waters.

We realized that quadrupling ocean protection in the next five years is a daunting task. Currently, only about 8% of the ocean is under some form of protection, and only about 3% is fully protected. If we want to get to 30% effectively protected by 2030, we have a lot of work to do. But there’s momentum—and we believe it’s possible.

Mongabay:
Does Revive Our Ocean represent a shift from working mainly with governments to enabling communities to create locally managed marine protected areas (MPAs)?

Kristin Rechberger:

We’ve seen that marine protection works but the creation of MPAs has been far too slow. To meet 30×30, the world would need to establish over 190,000 new protected areas. That’s why we’re focusing on communities—those who know their waters best. 

Our work has always involved governments and local communities—we only go if we’re invited in by them. It’s never just governments; it’s scientists, educators, conservationists, and community leaders too.

But offshore protection requires a different model—expedition vessels, remote logistics, and complex research. Nearshore, it’s different, but the underlying approach to marine protection is universal: a group of people comes together, decides an area needs protection, and collaborates through science, economics, policy, and funding to make it happen.

A few years ago, we interviewed dozens of managers of community-led marine reserves around the world. We asked about their origin stories, their current needs, and how they felt about scaling to meet 30×30. That research helped shape Revive Our Ocean.

We also selected an initial cohort of experienced community leaders who can guide others. We’re starting with groups in seven countries, testing demand, and refining tools to inspire, enable, and equip communities to create effective MPAs.

One universal thing we learned: coastal marine protection is a good business. Take the Medes Islands Marine Reserve off the coast of Spain—just one square kilometer of full protection from fishing, but it generates €16 million a year from dive and marine tourism. It costs only a couple million euros to manage. So we’ve often asked: if it’s such a good business, why doesn’t every coastal town have one?

The barriers we found are threefold:

1. Awareness – People often don’t know the benefits of marine protection.
2. Policy – National policies in most coastal countries do not allow local governments to create their own MPAs.
3. Know-how – Even when people are inspired and policies allow it, creating an MPA is complicated.

We’re tackling those barriers by:

• Creating exciting media that shows the benefits of marine protection from local perspectives (tour operators, fishers, mayors).
• Supporting policy reform to allow decentralized, locally-driven conservation.
• Producing practical guides like a Marine Protected Area Handbook and offering training to make it easier for communities to create MPAs.

Ultimately, we want local communities—who know their oceans best—to lead the way. We want marine protected areas to go viral!

Mongabay:
What is the geographic scope of the project?

Kristin Rechberger: 

We’re starting with seven countries, working closely with specific groups who form our first cohort.

For example:

• Isle of Arran, Scotland – Lamlash Bay has a two-and-a-half-square-kilometer no-take marine reserve, created about 30 years ago by two passionate community members who rallied their neighbors against dredging and industrial fishing practices.
• Amorgos, Greece – Local fishers came together to form AMORGORAMA, recognizing the crisis themselves and taking action to restore marine life and protect their future.
• The Philippines – National legislation evolved to allow community-based marine protected areas back in 1998. Small-scale fishers use marine reserves as “fish factories,” replenishing their fishing grounds and improving livelihoods.
• Indonesia – Similar models of small-scale fisher-driven marine protection are thriving.
• Mexico – We’re working with Atlas Aquatica. Its founder mapped over 260 dive shops across Mexico, and found that the diving industry generates $725 million annually—comparable to the fishing industry in parts of the country – thus realizing that divers need a cooperative structure like fishers have.

Each of these partners offers a slightly different model. By learning from them—and making their experiences available to others—we hope to help break through barriers and accelerate coastal ocean protection everywhere.

Mongabay:
Do you think that highlighting solutions through case studies gives people hope and a sense of agency—that they feel they can actually do something?

Kristin Rechberger:
Yes, absolutely. These places are incredibly inspiring. They show communities coming together because they care deeply about protecting their coastlines—and they’re doing the hard work to make it happen.

Take Greece, for example. The fishers of Amorgos have really hit rock bottom. Fish stocks have become so depleted that they went to the national government, demanding marine protection. It’s exciting to see fishers themselves calling for change—and understanding that protection will bring the fish back.

You also think about Greece’s tourism economy and the popularity of its coasts. Dive tourism, for example, has huge potential, but it hasn’t always been linked with conservation. In places where fishing and tourism could be boosted simultaneously through marine reserves, the two sectors haven’t always collaborated.

If they do join forces, both can thrive. Look at the Medes Islands Marine Reserve in Spain: tourism revenue there is about 25 times greater than fishing revenue, and the fishing outside the reserve is also much better because the fish population rebounds.

It’s a win-win: thriving nature and thriving communities. Protection helps drive economic benefits across multiple sectors, while restoring the health and beauty of coastal ecosystems.

Mongabay:
How can people get involved or help out?

Kristin Rechberger:
There are many ways to get involved.

First, to zoom out a little: our goal is for coastal marine protection to become the norm by 2030—to the point where having a marine reserve is just part of your community infrastructure, like waste management or hotel development.

There are two major ways to help:

1. Scaling protection – Accelerate the creation of new coastal marine reserves.
2. Improving existing MPAs – Stop harmful activities, like bottom trawling, in areas that are already protected.

For example, in Europe, bottom trawling continues even inside marine protected areas, causing an estimated 11 billion Euros in annual losses to society

So, when you ask what people can do:

• Talk about it — Discuss marine protection at your dinner table, at your church, with your friends. The more people understand how effective and beneficial marine protection is, the more support we can build.
• Support the organizations — Support Revive Our Ocean or any of the amazing groups we’re partnering with.
• Sign petitions — We’ll be linking to petitions calling for an end to destructive fishing in protected areas, especially in the UK and Europe.
• Stay informed — Sign up for our newsletter, follow us on social media, stay connected.
• Get directly involved — If you live near a coastline, find out if there’s a marine protected area near you and see if you can support it—or even work toward creating one yourself!

There are lots of levels of involvement, depending on how deep you want to go. We need many more people joining this movement, and we’re working hard to onboard them in smart and effective ways.

Mongabay:
So if I lived in a coastal area and wanted to try to create a marine protected area, how would I go about doing that—how would I get started?

Kristin Rechberger:
I would recommend going to our website and reaching out to us.

If we already have a Revive Our Ocean Collective member in your country, we can connect you directly. If not, we’ll try to link you with another group in your region to help you learn faster.

In addition to the resources available on our website, we plan to offer virtual guides from our community of practice. We’ll have webinars, trainings, and a growing library of best practices to help onboard more people and more communities between now and 2030.

We aim to be an aggregator of the best practices and tools to make this journey as smooth and impactful as possible.

Mongabay:
One thing I should have asked earlier—what’s the connection between Revive Our Ocean and David Attenborough?

Kristin Rechberger:
Revive Our Ocean is a co-producer of the upcoming film Ocean with David Attenborough, even though he is not involved with our initiative.

We’ve also produced a series of short films highlighting community perspectives—interviewing mayors, fishers, and tour operators—about the real-world benefits of marine protection along their coastlines.

The idea is to help others learn from their stories and be inspired to take action in their own communities.

Mongabay:
What gives you hope for the oceans?

Kristin Rechberger:
Marine protection works. We just need a lot more of it.

We’ve seen the results time and time again—the science is clear, the economics are clear. Once people understand the benefits, support follows.

That’s what keeps me going. I think we’re really starting to gain momentum, and I’m excited about what we can achieve with Revive Our Ocean.

Credits

Rhett Butler Editor

This story first appeared on Mongabay

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