Setting aside vast swathes of ocean and protecting them from industrial uses such as overfishing and other development is critically important to helping both the earth and countries adapt to climate change, a global team of marine biologists says.

Large marine reserves can also help prevent some of the worst effects of climate change by helping to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide and giving a boost to the biological processes that help ecosystems adapt, according to the team’s research, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A reef at Papahanaumokuakea Marine National