KARACHI — On Sept. 2, the government of Balochistan province in Pakistan declared the country’s third marine protected area, around Miani Hor Lagoon on the country’s central coast. The biodiversity-rich lagoon hosts a lush mangrove forest, numerous bird species and threatened marine mammals. With the declaration of the Miani Hor Marine Protected Area (MPA), Pakistan takes another step toward achieving Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Diversity Framework, to protect 30% of its land and sea by 2030, also known as the 30×30 initiative. It’s a very small step, however: With the addition of the not-quite 43-square-kilometer (16.5-square-mile) Miani Hor MPA, Pakistan’s total protected marine area measures 542 km2 (209 mi2), or just 0.23% of the 240,000 km2 (92,660 mi2) of marine and coastal area under the country’s jurisdiction. Pakistan trails its neighbors, Bangladesh at 8% and even India at 0.3%, although none of these countries’ MPAs are considered well protected. And it appears on track to miss the 30×30 target, just like it missed the old Aichi Target 11, which aimed to protect 10% of land and sea by 2020. In line with the country’s track record, enacting management plans for its MPAs also lags. For instance, it took Pakistan eight years to come up with the management plan for its first MPA, declared in 2017 around Astola Island; the second, the Churna Island MPA declared in September 2024, still has no management plan in sight. Nevertheless, conservationists welcomed the new MPA. “The declaration of Miani Hor as Pakistan’s…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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