- Governments, nonprofits, institutions and the private sector made more than 300 voluntary commitments and mobilized $6.4 billion for ocean conservation at the Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, which closed June 18. It was the first time the annual gathering took place in Africa.
- The conference host, Kenya, laid out more than 40 commitments backed by more than $1 billion in finance for the expansion of marine protected areas, fisheries monitoring, climate finance and blue economy.
- With less than five years remaining to meet the goal of protecting 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030, a lot of attention was on governments to accelerate the process, but experts continued to call for strengthening of existing protections alongside expansions.
- Between 2014 and now, more than 3,200 commitments totaling $176 billion have been made at these conferences, and about 85% of those commitments have been fulfilled or are in the process.
MOMBASA — Africa was front and center at the Our Ocean Conference in Kenya, the first time the annual gathering was held on the continent. The conference is built around voluntary commitments from a range of actors including governments, nonprofits, institutions and the private sector.
The meeting in Mombasa, a port city on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast, brought 6,000 delegates together under the theme “Our Ocean, Our Heritage, Our Future.” The focus was on expanding protections, strengthening marine security, developing sustainable blue economies and fisheries, and addressing problems such as marine pollution and climate change.
A preliminary roundup showed that more than 104 players came forward to announce commitments that would mobilize $6.4 billion.
“When we launched this conference in 2014, we wanted more than speeches, we wanted people to come to the table with an announcement of specifically what they will do and when and how much it will cost,” John Kerry, the former U.S. secretary of state who founded the conference, said at the opening ceremony on June 17.
Turning ambition into action was a recurring theme across the three-day conference. “We did not come to Mombasa to add our names to a longer list of promises. We came to turn the tide,” Kenya’s President William Ruto said at the closing ceremony on June 18. “Let the measure of this conference not be what we pledged on the shore, but what we deliver in the waters.”
The East African nation laid out more than 40 commitments backed by more than $1 billion in financing for the expansion of marine protected areas (MPAs), fisheries monitoring, climate finance and the blue economy — a term widely used in policy discussions to describe activities ranging from support for small-scale fisheries to large offshore energy projects.
Protecting places
With less than five years remaining to meet the United Nation’s goal of protecting 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030, agreed to by nations under the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, a lot of attention was on governments to accelerate the process.
The West African nation of Senegal announced it would double its MPA network by 2030. Indonesia said it would set aside 7,000 square kilometers (2,703 square miles) for new MPAs this year. Kenya’s neighbor Tanzania committed to establishing a 2,500 km² (965 mi2) MPA in Kilwa district by 2028. Kenya and Tanzania also committed to establishing the Kwale–Tanga Transboundary Marine Conservation Area by 2028, conserving coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass habitats. On Africa’s western shore, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau agreed to advance at least two transboundary MPAs.
In Europe, Portugal said it would create the D. Carlos Marine Reserve (spanning 173,000 km² or 66,795 mi2), which would increase the share of its waters that are protected from 19% to 25%. Brazil promised to grow its marine protected estate by 240,000 km² (92,665 mi2) in the next five years.
Brazil also said it would seek to establish a high seas MPA in the Southern Atlantic under the U.N.’s Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction treaty (BBNJ, also known as the High Seas Treaty) that came into force in January this year.
“For me, the BBNJ was really going to be at the center of this conference, and I believe it has been since this is the first Our Ocean Conference after the High Seas Treaty came into force,” Fatou Ndoye, executive secretary of the Abidjan Convention at the U.N. Environment Programme, told Mongabay The convention is a regional treaty governing marine and coastal resources from Mauritania to South Africa’s Atlantic coast.
“We continue to create more marine protected areas. That’s a good thing, but I think we are now also more strongly focused on quality,” Arthur Tuda, executive secretary of the Tanzania-based nonprofit Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA), told Mongabay.
Analysis led by the Panama-based Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute underscores concerns about the quality of protections. The report released by the institute and its partners during the conference suggests that half of existing MPAs lack effective protections.
“The ambition of an expanded marine conservation system, exemplified by the 30×30 target, has outpaced the personnel, skillsets, and infrastructure required to make it real,” the report authors wrote. Beyond designating these areas, the report argues there is a need to build institutions and expertise and secure funding.
Some countries and regional governments did make commitments to strengthen safeguards for existing MPAs. For example, French Polynesia said it will bolster protection in Tainui Atea, one of the largest MPAs in the world, by bringing more than 27,000 km² (10,425 mi2) under new fishing regulations, establishing coastal protection zones and protecting seamounts.
On the sidelines of the conference the U.S.-based NGO Marine Conservation Institute recognized six MPAs for securing biodiversity gains in a durable fashion, naming them “Blue Parks.” Four of the six sites are in African waters, with one each in Chile and Canada.
Improving fisheries, protecting corals
Beyond conserving certain sites by designating them protected areas, the focus was also on offering protections for marine life in other parts of the ocean by curbing a human activity that poses the greatest threat to it: Fishing. In particular, countries pledged to clamp down on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Fifteen countries, almost half of them in Africa, endorsed the Mombasa declaration centered on combatting IUU fishing: Belgium, Cameroon, Chile, the Dominican Republic, France (representing its overseas territories), Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Republic of the Congo, Somalia, and South Korea.
“The Indian Ocean is our only resource. Our entire livelihoods are pegged on the existence of these waters, but opaque commercial fishing activities are ruining this beautiful heritage. The big ships have swallowed all our fish,” 64-year-old Kenyan fisherman Twaha Mohammed Yussuf told Mongabay. Yussuf was among hundreds of Kenyan small-scale fishers who participated in conference events.
Though Kenya did not endorse the Mombasa declaration, the country announced it would install electronic monitoring devices in all industrial and semi-industrial fishing vessels operating in its national waters and introduce Automatic Identification System tracking for small-scale fishers.
Another key initiative that received support of the host government was the High-Level Climate-Resilient Coral Reefs Commitment, an intergovernmental pledge announced in 2025 that seeks to protect coral reefs most likely to survive climate-change induced alterations in ocean habitats. Alongside Kenya, Comoros, Dominican Republic, the U.K. and Mexico also announced support for it at the conference.
Scientists also unveiled an analysis identifying heat-resilient coral species across 71 countries and territories covering an area of nearly 166,000 km² (64,093 mi2). The research, by the U.S.-based NGO Wildlife Conservation Society and Macquarie University in Australia, expands on an assessment published in 2018 that earmarked 50 coral species.
Corals have long been considered the marine organisms most at risk from climate change. The planet endured a fourth mass coral bleaching episode between 2023-2025. Bleaching occurs when extraordinary warming of oceans leads to widespread coral die-offs and degradation.
Mobilizing people
The conference placed a clear emphasis on youth-led efforts. With more than 70% of Africa’s population and around 75% of Kenya’s population being under 35 years old, the enthusiasm of young participants was palpable. For the first time ever, the Our Ocean Conference was preceded by a research symposium where young researchers were featured prominently.
While a youthful population was consistently portrayed as a blessing, a U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report, the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, was a sobering reminder that growing populations, particularly in Africa, can jeopardize food security. The report noted that wild caught fisheries and aquaculture are more important than ever to meet nutritional needs globally. This is especially true in Africa, where per capita availability at 9.1 kilograms (20 pounds) is much lower than the global average of 21.3 kg (47 lbs). While overall supply of aquatic foods is increasing on the continent, per capita availability is set to decline by 2034.
The first day of the conference also saw the launch of a Regional Community Hub for Africa by the 1000 Ocean Startups coalition. The hub will bring together African startups and entrepreneurs working in the marine sector, to help them access financing, technical support and markets.
Making promises, taking stock
In all, more than 300 commitments were recorded by participants at the 11th edition of the conference.
While the number of pledges this year is comparable to other years, the pledged funds have been declining since the eighth edition of the conference in Panama in 2023 where $21 billion was promised. None of the major coastal nations in West Africa made any new promises, according to a preliminary roundup.
“I was hoping for a little bit more strength from African countries. When I look at my region, I was hoping they would be louder,” said Ndoye, the Abidjan Convention official, who is based in the West African nation of Côte d’Ivoire.
Conspicuously absent from discussions and commitments was: China. The country is the largest producer of seafood in the world and operates the world’s biggest overall national fishing fleet as well as the biggest distant-water fishing fleet. There was muted participation from the U.S. as well, which entered no new promises in the commitments report.
These promises are meant to be time-bound, measurable, backed financially and impactful. Such commitments have been a feature of the conference since its first edition in the U.S. in 2014. At the Mombasa conference, delegates launched a dedicated tracker to publicly disclose progress on the commitments and also published audits of past commitments.
Between 2014 and now, more than 3,200 commitments totaling $176 billion have been made at these conferences, and about 85% of those commitments have been fulfilled or are in process.
A review of African commitments made in that time period showed that the figure is about 78% for the continent. But less than half of the $14.3 billion pledged had been delivered: $5.8 billion.
“There’s actually considerable progress in actualizing some of these commitments,” Tuda, one of the authors of the assessment, said. “So, it’s encouraging, because these conferences are not just about commitment. We’ve seen people actually go back and take action.”
Jackson Ambole contributed reporting from Mombasa, Kenya.
Banner image: Mangroves along Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast. Image by Malavika Vyawahare/Mongabay.
Six marine sanctuaries recognized as Blue Parks, four of them in Africa
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Cite this article
Malavika Vyawahare (2026). Our Ocean Conference in Kenya ends with $6.4 billion in pledges, review of past promises. Mongabay Conservation news. DOI: https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321802Credits
