Towards nature positive for the ocean
Pathways for corporate contributions
A healthy ocean is essential to life on Earth. It is home to the majority of the planet’s biodiversity, acts as one of our most powerful allies in the fight against climate change, and sustains millions of livelihoods worldwide. Yet today, ocean health is in steep decline—driven largely by unsustainable industrial activity—pushing marine ecosystems closer to dangerous tipping points.
© Shutterstock / Damsea
At the midpoint of the UN Ocean Decade, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The world faces a triple challenge: halting and reversing biodiversity loss, tackling climate change, and addressing economic inequality. The ocean—vast, complex, and interconnected—is central to overcoming these challenges. But to unlock its potential, we must transition away from business-as-usual and toward a regenerative, resilient, and inclusive blue economy.
WWF’s new report, Towards Nature Positive for the Ocean, provides a first-of-its-kind guide specifically designed to support companies operating in marine and coastal environments. It offers practical, science-based pathways to help businesses credibly contribute to the global nature-positive goal: halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030, and achieving full recovery by 2050.
Nature positive ocean pathways
Why oceans
Ocean health is in steep decline. Marine species populations have fallen by an average of 56% since 1970, and critical ecosystems like coral reefs, mangrove forests, kelp forests, salt marshes, and seagrass beds are diminishing in both extent and condition.
Unique challenges
The ocean is vast, complex, and interconnected—its unique biophysical properties, governance, and knowledge gaps present challenges.
The opportunities
No single company or sector can achieve nature positive alone, but the private sector has a unique and critical role to play to achieve this global goal.
How to contribute
Organized around the AR3T action framework, this report outlines concrete steps that companies can take to:
- Avoid negative impacts on marine ecosystems,
- Reduce unavoidable impacts,
- Restore and regenerate degraded habitats, and
- Transform the broader systems and value chains in which they operate.
A nature-positive ocean
Collective action across industry, finance, policy, civil society, and local communities can drive transformative change towards a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable blue economy that restores and regenerates the environment upon which we all depend.
What makes this work unique is its explicit focus on the ocean—an ecosystem with distinct biophysical, legal, and governance complexities. Drawing from and relevant to leading global frameworks—including the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD)—the report presents sector-specific guidance tailored to offshore wind, coastal and marine tourism, shipping, and seafood industries.
Organized around the AR3T action framework—Avoid, Reduce, Restore & Regenerate, and Transform—the report outlines concrete steps companies can take to:
- Avoid future negative impacts on marine ecosystems
- Reduce unavoidable impacts
- Restore and regenerate degraded habitats
- Transform the broader systems and value chains in which they operate
Crucially, the report underscores that no single company or sector can achieve nature positive alone. The scale and interconnected nature of ocean impacts demand collective action within and across industries, and in coordination with governments, financial institutions, civil society, and local communities. Transformative change will only be possible through multi-actor collaboration and shared responsibility.
Why this matters
The ocean’s health underpins global climate stability, biodiversity, and economic prosperity.
Nature positive is a critical, science-based goal—and ocean industries have a central role to play.
This report helps companies take the first credible steps toward meaningful impact.
With urgent and collective action, marine recovery by 2050 is within reach.
