A culture that has been deeply connected to the ocean ever since their home islands were discovered in the 15th century, the Azoreans – like much of the world – face an eternal struggle. How to maintain tradition while recognising the pressures placed upon the ocean environments that sustain them.

It’s with an acute awareness of scale, therefore, that Tiago Pitta e Cunha, CEO of the Oceano Azul Foundation – a group that has been instrumental in conservation efforts across the nine islands of the Azores archipelago – admits finding the solutions that will allow nature to recover while coexisting with a thriving economy is “one of the biggest challenges of our times.”

In October last year, the Azores took its greatest step towards such a solution. In fact, the region broke new ground entirely when it passed a legislation that will designate the largest Marine Protected Area (MPA) network known to the North Atlantic: a historic milestone to safeguard 30% of the sea surrounding the Azores archipelago.

An area covering almost 300,000 square kilometres – half of which will receive full protection from any and all forms of extractive practice – this newly designated expanse sets a powerful precedent for the rest of the world. How the Azores successfully transitions from an economy of extraction to one of nature-led sustainability here, will be the blueprint that nations around the world will want to pay close attention to.

The Azores have a history of proving change is possible. It was in 1984 that commercial whaling was banned in its waters. Three years later, the Azoreans had put paid to the practice for good, capturing their last sperm whale in 1987. Almost 40 years on and today, many of those former whalers are working successful whale watching businesses and using their skills and knowledge to “bring more value to the local economy than whaling ever did,” says Cunha.

“The same now applies to other non-extractive activities that benefit from marine protection, like eco-tourism, diving, sea sports, and other leisure activities,” he continues. “The bio-economy is also growing rapidly, and depends on a healthy ocean to obtain products that will usher forward solutions to the challenges of this century.

“Decarbonisation, circular economy, rebuilding nature, new medicines, biomaterials; these are all industries that will benefit from a protected ocean.”

An archipelago of nine volcanic islands in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, the Azorean sea – an area of around 1,000,000 square kilometres – represents 55% of the Portuguese waters. It also contains some of the most important, unique, and fragile island, open sea, and deep-sea environments in the North Atlantic.

The now approved MPA network will create a ‘sanctuary’ for an ecosystem rich in biodiversity, including sharks, fish, whales, deep-sea corals, and unique hydrothermal vent systems.

To protect all this, the Azores will need to lean heavily into one of its largest assets: its culture of community. Cunha believes that dedicated programmes and initiatives, supported by governments, but led by “civil society” will be key to the success of the region’s large-scale conservation goals. This includes growing and encouraging citizen movements, empowering local NGOs, and ensuring ocean literacy is available to all. 

The next stages of the programme will therefore involve building the coastal network of protected areas across all nine islands that make up the Azores, where “local communities will have a key role to play”. 

“As we have seen through our work in other regions, engaging municipalities, local businesses, fishers’ associations, NGOs, scientists, citizen movements, schools, and the general public is key for both the short-term and long-term success of conservation,” says Cunha.

Without a flow of conservation between all areas of the community, advancing on national 30 by 30 goals to protect 30% of land and ocean habitats by 2030 simply won’t be achievable, warns Cunha. 

“Breaking the cycle of distrust and paralysis that blocks conservation is one of the hardest challenges,” he states. “There are reasons why governments don’t protect the ocean, and those are mostly related to the lack of leadership and capacity to deal with fisheries’ resistance and opposition.

“A healthy ocean is crucial to the development of society. Most coastal communities understand well the social and economic impacts of losing biodiversity, but it is many times harder to explain the impact of this loss to wider society. There are always going to be disagreements in processes such as these, but finding a consensus on the best approach is crucial.”

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