As China’s coasts have become more severely affected by climate change, the country has launched a scheme to step up the protection of its designated marine areas. Similar measures could potentially be applied to marine conservation worldwide.

China has more than 270 marine protected areas (MPAs), comprising about 5% of its national waters (go.nature.com/2kn9htm). Until June this year, local governments with limited scientific knowledge were responsible for designing and planning MPAs, and this led to opportunistic development of these areas. A lack of monitoring and enforcement made the MPAs ineffective for remediating habitat degradation and the overexploitation of resources.

China’s planned improvements include organizing national guidelines and a management institution by 2020; forming a comprehensive regulatory framework by 2025; and establishing a systematically planned and effectively managed MPA system by 2035.

To achieve these aims, whether in China or worldwide, clear science-based criteria for designating MPAs are necessary. All stakeholders need to be involved in the planning stages. Effective monitoring programmes and strict enforcement are essential. And institutional and learning systems should unite individual MPAs into an ecologically coherent network.