It was the first time in the conference\u2019s 11 editions that it had been held on African soil.<\/p>\n
African countries played an \u201cimportant leadership role\u201d at the talks, observers told Carbon Brief, helping to drive ambition on fisheries transparency, a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining<\/a> and developing proposals for marine protected areas on the high seas.<\/p>\n Across the three-day conference, attendees also made 320 separate commitments, including new funding for scientific research, improving waste-management programmes to reduce marine pollution and mapping Indigenous groups\u2019 customary waters.<\/p>\n Some of these commitments were accompanied by announcements of new funding, with a total of $6.4bn \u201cmobilised\u201d across all pledges.<\/p>\n Several non-governmental organisations also released new reports during the conference, on topics ranging from the implementation of marine protected areas to \u201cclimate-resilient\u201d coral reefs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Observers told Carbon Brief that the commitments and discussions at the conference were \u201cpositive steps\u201d, but added that these pledges must now be backed up by action.<\/p>\n During the opening ceremony, former US secretary of state John Kerry urged delegates to move \u201cfrom commitments to implementation\u201d.<\/p>\n Here, Carbon Brief outlines the key takeaways from the OOC across five major climate-related topics.<\/p>\n Background<\/p>\n The OOC was first held in Washington DC in 2014, where it was championed by Kerry.<\/p>\n The conference aims to \u201cidentify action-based solutions and make tangible commitments\u201d towards addressing key issues facing the ocean, such as climate change and overfishing. It does so through voluntary commitments made by governments, non-governmental organisations, civil society groups and others.\u00a0<\/p>\n These commitments align with the six \u201cpillars\u201d of the conference:<\/p>\n The ocean-climate nexus<\/p>\n Marine pollution<\/p>\n Marine protected areas<\/p>\n Maritime security<\/p>\n Sustainable blue economy<\/p>\n Sustainable fisheries<\/p>\n Since then, the conference has been held annually (with the exceptions of 2020 and 2021 during the Covid pandemic), with the host city changing every year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Each edition of the conference is very different, attendees told Carbon Brief, and the host country plays a large role in setting the conference\u2019s priorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n For example, at the 2024 conference<\/a>, held in Athens, Greece, shipping and sustainable tourism were discussed at length alongside the six existing pillars.<\/p>\n At this year\u2019s summit, extra attention was paid to the roles of local communities in achieving a \u201chealthy\u201d ocean.<\/p>\n Since 2025, the conference has had its own dedicated secretariat<\/a>, hosted at the research organisation, the World Resources Institute<\/a> (WRI). (Prior to that, the US Department of State acted as the de-facto secretariat.)\u00a0<\/p>\n Conference participants told Carbon Brief that the OOC has been \u201chighly successful\u201d in achieving its aims over the past decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n An analysis<\/a> of the first 10 years of the conference, published by WRI in 2025, found that of a total 2,618 commitments made at the OOC, around 1,130 had been completed and a further 1,005 were in progress.<\/p>\n In Mombasa this year, 104 countries and organisations made a total of 320 voluntary commitments. More than one-quarter of these commitments were made in the \u201csustainable blue economy\u201d action area.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the preliminary report<\/a> released by the secretariat at the conclusion of the OOC, the commitments made at the conference represent $6.4bn in \u201cmobilised\u201d finance. However, it is unclear from the report how much of this figure is new committed funding.<\/p>\n Back to top<\/a><\/p>\n Marine protected areas<\/p>\n Marine protected areas<\/a> (MPAs) are one of the six key action areas of the Our Ocean Conference.<\/p>\n A June 2026 independent assessment<\/a> of the MPA-related commitments at previous editions of the OOC found that the conference has \u201cmade an outsized contribution to global marine conservation efforts\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the analysis, more than one-third of the Earth\u2019s MPAs stemmed from announcements made at the OOC \u2013 a total area of more than 10m square kilometres (km2).<\/p>\n This progress is the result of nearly two-thirds of MPA-related OOC commitments already fully implemented, the assessment says, while most of the remaining commitments \u201cshow evidence of progress\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n If all pledged MPAs were to be implemented, it would represent protection for around 14.4m km2 or 4% of the ocean.\u00a0<\/p>\n The chart below shows the number of pledged actions related to MPAs and other area-based conservation methods that were pledged at the OOC between 2014 and 2025, coloured by the progress made on each commitment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Several groups announced new MPAs \u2013 or the completion of previously announced MPA designations \u2013 at the OOC.\u00a0<\/p>\n These included the establishment this year of two new MPAs in the Juan Fern\u00e1ndez region of Chile, protecting a total of around 337,000km2 of ocean, and the approval of the Azores Marine Park, which will span 287,000km2 \u2013 making it the largest network of protected areas in the north Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n However, despite the progress made in designating MPAs, further work is needed to ensure that these areas are truly protected, experts told Carbon Brief in Mombasa.<\/p>\n A report<\/a> released by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute<\/a> (STRI) at the summit detailed the \u201cimplementation gap\u201d facing MPAs. It noted that \u201cat least half of existing MPAs remain unimplemented or operationally ineffective\u201d, while just 3.5% of the global ocean is \u201cfully and highly\u201d protected.<\/p>\n Closing this gap will require \u201cinclusive, sustained and context-sensitive design, management and funding approaches\u201d, continued the report.<\/p>\n Dr Ana Spalding<\/a>, the director of STRI\u2019s Adrienne Arsht community-based resilience solutions initiative<\/a>, told Carbon Brief that, while MPAs are typically evaluated based on their biodiversity outcomes, the communities that rely on ocean ecosystems are also very important to consider. Focusing on just one aspect or the other will result in an MPA that is not effective, she added:<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s going to be a sweet spot between the two.\u201d<\/p>\n Back to top<\/a><\/p>\n High Seas Treaty<\/p>\n The Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction \u2013 also known as the BBNJ Agreement<\/a> or the High Seas Treaty<\/a> \u2013 entered into force on 17 January 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n This followed the treaty, achieving the necessary 60 state ratifications on 19 September 2025. The week before the OOC, the east African nation of Comoros became the 90th party to ratify the agreement<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The first Conference of the Parties for the High Seas Treaty will be held in January 2027 in New York City. At that meeting, parties will be tasked with creating the rules of procedure, establishing the subsidiary bodies and carrying out other foundational work.\u00a0<\/p>\n Because so many key decisions will be made at this COP1, it is \u201cimperative\u201d to have as many ratifications as possible before the conference begins, said Rebecca Hubbard<\/a>, director of the High Seas Alliance<\/a>, a coalition of non-governmental organisations that advocates for protection of the high seas. She added:<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope that well over 100 countries will be party to the agreement by COP1, so that they can be at the decision-making table.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the key provisions of the High Seas Treaty is that it creates a mechanism for countries to establish MPAs in international waters. This will be key to achieving the \u201c30 by 30<\/a>\u201d target of protecting 30% of the world\u2019s land and oceans by 2030, Hubbard told Carbon Brief.<\/p>\n However, establishing a high-seas MPA under the agreement requires a thorough process, including a review by a scientific and technical subsidiary body, a consultation with parties and a vote by the COP. Thus, in order to achieve the \u201c30 by 30\u201d target, parties will need to act swiftly to begin the process of establishing high-seas MPAs, according to Hubbard. She said:<\/p>\n \u201cIt will be very, very tight. It\u2019s definitely possible, but it requires really strong government leadership and prioritisation.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that it is \u201cessential\u201d that governments begin forming proposals for high-seas MPAs before the COP meets in January, noting that some countries are already doing so.<\/p>\n At a side event on 16 June, representatives from South Africa and the EU detailed plans to propose a high-seas MPA that would link two existing protected areas in the sub-Antarctic \u2013 one South African and one French. Hubbard told Carbon Brief:<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a really great example of what we can do with the High Seas Treaty \u2013 having developed and developing countries working together, sharing knowledge [and] developing scientific approaches together. I think that\u2019s the hopeful future, collaboration [and] cooperation, that the High Seas Treaty really provides.\u201d<\/p>\n Also at the summit, Senegal, Mauritania, the Gambia and Guinea-Bissau committed to creating \u201cat least two\u201d transboundary west African MPAs.<\/p>\n Back to top<\/a><\/p>\n Deep-sea mining<\/p>\n Although deep-sea mining was not a major focus of the Mombasa talks, it did feature at several side events.\u00a0<\/p>\n At a reception held by the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition<\/a> (DSCC), Prof Rashid Sumaila<\/a> of the University of British Columbia<\/a> said the \u201cwrong question is being asked\u201d about deep-sea mining. He continued:<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not whether they have the minerals, it\u2019s whether extracting them gives a net-positive impact.\u201d<\/p>\n Sumaila added that evaluating the risk of deep-sea mining will require a cost-benefit analysis that is as \u201cbroad and inclusive as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n At the same reception, the foreign-affairs minister of Malawi, Dr George Chaponda<\/a>, announced the country\u2019s support of a \u201cprecautionary pause\u201d on seabed mining in international waters. This would prohibit mineral exploration in such areas until there is robust scientific evidence showing limited environmental harm.<\/p>\n In doing so, Malawi became the first African country to support such a pause \u2013 and the 41st country overall<\/a> to support a precautionary pause or moratorium on the activity.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chaponda told the assembled guests that Malawi\u2019s existence as a landlocked country did not preclude its involvement in the deep-sea debates, urging:<\/p>\n \u201cTo my fellow landlocked states: geography does not diminish our stake in the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n Later in the week, Kenya and Madagascar also announced their support for such a pause.<\/p>\n In a statement<\/a>, David Willima<\/a>, the Africa lead at DSCC, said:<\/p>\n \u201cThe leadership shown by Malawi, Kenya and Madagascar sends a vital signal that African nations are stepping forward to defend the deep ocean and are unwilling to accept the risks of deep-sea mining.\u201d<\/p>\n Back to top<\/a><\/p>\n Coral reefs<\/p>\n At the third UN Ocean Conference<\/a> (UNOC), held in Nice, France, in June 2025, 11 countries and several partner organisations launched the high-level commitment to protect \u201cclimate-resilient\u201d coral reefs.<\/p>\n These are reefs that, according to scientists<\/a>, have the \u201cbest chance of long-term survival in the face of climate change\u201d.<\/p>\n (UNOC occurs every three years and is specifically focused on achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goal on sustainable ocean use. Unlike the OOC, UNOC results in a negotiated political declaration<\/a>.)<\/p>\n A further four countries signed the commitment in Mombasa: Comoros, the Dominican Republic, Kenya and the UK. According to a representative at the launch event, the goal is to reach 31 signatories \u2013 representing 80% of the world\u2019s coral cover \u2013 by COP31 in Turkey in November this year.<\/p>\n Signatory governments pledged their commitment to:<\/p>\n Identifying climate-resilient reefs and prioritising their protection.<\/p>\n Integrating coral-reef protection into national strategies and plans.<\/p>\n Enacting policies to reduce the local pressures facing coral reefs, such as overfishing, pollution and overdevelopment.<\/p>\n Implementing national reef monitoring programmes and action plans.<\/p>\n Ensuring equity and working with local communities in protecting reefs.<\/p>\n The Mombasa conference also coincided with the presentation of a new study<\/a> on climate-resilient reefs, covered in the 17 June edition of Carbon Brief\u2019s Cropped<\/a> newsletter. (The study is currently in the final stages of peer review.) <\/p>\n Building on a 2018 project<\/a> that identified the 50 coral reefs that \u201cform an optimal portfolio of reefs that are most likely to survive climate change\u201d, the new work mapped more than 165,000km2 of coral reefs across 70 countries. These were found to have the best chances of persisting in the face of climate change and a warming, acidifying ocean.<\/p>\n Dr Emily Darling<\/a>, director of coral-reef conservation at the Wildlife Conservation Society<\/a> and a co-author of the study, told Carbon Brief that \u201cone of the key things countries can do that have these important reefs is elevate them into national policy\u201d across multiple government sectors.\u00a0<\/p>\n She added that learning from these reefs will become vital over the coming months as El Ni\u00f1o<\/a> warms the world\u2019s oceans even further.\u00a0<\/p>\n Darling told Carbon Brief:<\/p>\n \u201cClimate change is not a single blanket on the world\u2019s oceans. There are a lot of pockets of resilience, there are pockets of revolution for corals, and it\u2019s all about finding those places, and how do we support them through the other local pressures that they experience that we know we can manage.\u201d<\/p>\n Although few monetary coral-related commitments were made at the summit, Norway pledged to allocate NOK 20m ($2m) to the Global Fund for Coral Reefs<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Back to top<\/a><\/p>\n Fisheries<\/p>\n One of the major achievements of the summit was the adoption of the Mombasa Declaration<\/a> to advance fisheries transparency and combat illegal fishing.<\/p>\n The declaration \u201crecognise[s]\u201d that illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a major factor driving the unsustainable use of ocean resources and the degradation of marine ecosystems.<\/p>\n The declaration, which was signed by 16 national governments \u2013 eight of them from Africa \u2013 commits parties to follow a set of principles laid out in the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency<\/a>. This was developed and promoted by a group of civil society organisations known as the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The commitments in the Mombasa Declaration fall within four broad categories:<\/p>\n Supporting transparency and accountability in the fishing industry.<\/p>\n Strengthening monitoring of fishing activities and cooperating with enforcement actions.<\/p>\n Building capacity and supporting implementation of transparency reforms.<\/p>\n Strengthening ocean-observing systems and promoting the use of open-access data.<\/p>\n The declaration notes that these principles should \u201capply to and benefit both small-scale and industrial fisheries\u201d and support \u201cbroader ocean-management efforts\u201d.<\/p>\n At a press conference announcing the launch of the declaration, Ghanaian fisheries and aquaculture minister Emelia Arthur called it a \u201cglobal testament of our collective commitment to transparent fisheries\u201d. She emphasised the importance of the sector to all aspects of life, saying:<\/p>\n \u201cFisheries is nutrition. Fisheries is food security. Fisheries is livelihoods. Fisheries is national security.\u201d<\/p>\n Several civil society organisations, philanthropies, community groups and governments also made separate fisheries-related commitments at the summit.\u00a0<\/p>\n The EU committed \u20ac46m ($52m) through its Horizon Europe<\/a> research programme to fisheries work, including \u20ac32m ($36m) for \u201cadaptive co-management strategies\u201d and \u20ac14m ($16m) for research on conservation and sustainable management of migratory fishes.<\/p>\n The EU and Italy both also announced contributions to the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n The government of Kenya made nine fisheries-related pledges at the summit, including committing to train compliance officers dedicated to combatting IUU fishing, developing management plans for all of its commercial fisheries and establishing bycatch mitigation measures.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the summit, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization<\/a> launched its biannual \u201cstate of world fisheries and aquaculture<\/a>\u201d report.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the report, the world set a new record for fisheries and aquaculture in 2024 \u2013 producing a total of 235m tonnes of fish and algae. This total consisted of nearly 92m tonnes of fish from capture fisheries, 103m tonnes of farmed fish and 40m tonnes of algae production.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Marine](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2G8Y918.jpg\")
Marine protected area, Torre del Cerrano, Pineto, Italy. Credit: Fabrizio Troiani \/ Alamy Stock Photo<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Map](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot_2026-06-22_11.48.06.png\")
Degree of completion of MPA commitments made at the OOC between 2014 and 2025. Blue indicates evidence of completion, while yellow shows some evidence of progress and red shows no evidence of progress. Source: Sullivan-Stack et al. (2026<\/a>)<\/p>\n![\"Container](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DPF08G.jpg\")
Container ship in the Indian Ocean. Credit: imageBROKER.com \/ Alamy Stock Photo<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Coral](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/OceanImageBank_NoemiMerz_10.jpg\")
Coral reef in Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Credit: Noemi Merz \/ Ocean Image Bank<\/a><\/p>\n![\"We](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/maritime-conference-ragout1.png\")
Excerpt from the preamble to the Mombasa Declaration. Source: The Mombasa Declaration (2026<\/a>)<\/p>\n![\"Fishing](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/C5TA6P.jpg\")
Fishing boat and gannets, Cornwall, UK. Credit: David Chapman \/ Alamy Stock Photo<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"Aerial](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3DFKD0M.jpg\")
Aerial view of a fish farm. Credit: Scharfsinn \/