At Our Ocean Conference, Big Stories Add Urgency

This month – June, designated worldwide as Ocean Month – brings opportunities to both mark significant progress in global marine conservation and to accelerate it.

World Ocean Day (8 June) is a chance to acknowledge the immense role the ocean plays in life on Earth and to support the large-scale, science-based marine conservation needed to sustain that role.  

From 16 to 18 June, global leaders will join experts, advocates, community leaders and others for the Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, Kenya – the first time Africa will host this conference. The gathering will spotlight the connection between ocean health and human well-being, especially for coastal and island communities, and provides a platform for governments to make new commitments towards protecting at least 30% of the ocean by 2030 – the “30 by 30” goal that more than 200 countries agreed to in 2022. Other prominent themes include improving fisheries sustainability, addressing marine pollution and advancing financing for ocean conservation.

This Ocean Month, here are five major stories to watch.

1. Africa’s growing role in climate and ocean solutions
Along Africa’s coasts, partnerships are helping to turn ocean conservation commitments into results that hold for the long term. 

2. How to end harmful subsidies and unregulated fisheries
Worldwide, unsustainable fishing is driven in part by subsidies governments pay to commercial fishing fleets, along with a lack of effective rules. Both issues can be mitigated through new policies and global cooperation.

3. A milestone moment for marine protected areas
10% of the ocean is now under some form of protection, a number that both illustrates progress and shows how much more governments need to safeguard to achieve 30 by 30. How can they meet this ambitious target?

4. Science must continue to drive ocean solutions
Efforts to protect or improve ocean health must be rooted in credible science. Today, some of that work includes mapping seagrass meadows, quantifying the impact of plastic pollution and implementing science-based fisheries management approaches. These and other initiatives should drive targeted conservation to help people and the planet.

5. How to close the nature finance gap—and why we need to
A mosaic of partners can fund effective conservation.