Tropical Pacific Ocean

Why the Pacific matters

The Tropical Pacific Ocean spans a third of Earth’s surface and holds some of the richest biodiversity on the planet. Its health is inseparable from our own: it regulates the climate, produces oxygen, and underpins food security for billions of people.

But the Pacific is under stress. Three-quarters of reefs have already bleached, one-third of fish stocks are over-exploited, and illegal fishing continues to drain resources. Safeguarding these waters is not optional - it is essential to our collective survival

That is why the Bezos Earth Fund works alongside governments, Indigenous leaders, NGOs, and funding partners to advance the global 30×30 goal – protecting at least 30% of the ocean by 2030.

Our focus is practical and durable: plan inclusively with science → designate in law → implement at sea → finance for the long term. Protection only works if it lasts.

Eastern Tropical Pacific – A connected ocean corridor

From Costa Rica to Ecuador, the central Eastern Tropical Pacific links world-class sites – the Galápagos, Cocos, Coiba, and Malpelo – into a migration route for sharks, turtles, whales, and other wide-ranging species. Governments in the region have dramatically expanded marine protection since 2021, connecting national waters into a shared corridor and moving to – or beyond – the 30×30 benchmark.

Implementation is the difference maker:

• Modern monitoring: Satellites, vessel analytics, and shared data to see what is happening at sea.
• Coordinated enforcement: Cross-border operations that turn intelligence into action.
• Ecological monitoring: Long-term tracking of key species to measure recovery.

The central Eastern Tropical Pacific shows what’s possible when protection is real – connected, enforced, and built to last across borders.

Blue Pacific Continent – Pacific leadership at scale

Across the Pacific Islands, leaders are advancing the Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity Initiative (UBPP) — a Pacific-led plan to sustainably manage 100% of their waters and protect at least 30% by 2030. The Pacific Islands region harbors extraordinary biodiversity, including some of the planet’s most extensive coral reef systems and the world’s most productive tuna fisheries.

Work underway in the Pacific Islands follows a similar approach to that taken in the Eastern Tropical Pacific: 

• Expand and connect marine protected areas in alignment with national priorities.
• Strengthen enforcement capacity through modern surveillance systems and cross-border cooperation.
• Support community stewardship, rooted in Indigenous governance traditions such as rahui and iqoliqoli.
• Secure lasting protection by establishing dedicated financing mechanisms, such as conservation trust funds, to ensure continuity across decades.

The Blue Pacific Continent is setting a new global standard for ocean stewardship, proving that conservation rooted in culture, cooperation, and durable finance can work at planetary scale.

Path forward

The mission is clear: protect critical places, make protection real, and secure it for the long term. Led by Pacific governments and grounded in consultation with communities and fishers, this work keeps fisheries viable, safeguards coasts, and gives wildlife room to recover. The Pacific is showing what effective ocean stewardship looks like.