By Dr. Sarah Hameed | July 6, 2026
The 11th Our Ocean Conference brought together ocean leaders from around the world in Mombasa, Kenya — the first time this conference has been hosted on the African continent.
For Blue Parks, it was an opportunity to do what we do best: recognize the people and places proving that effective marine conservation is possible.
Attendees kept telling Lance and I the same thing: the Blue Park Awards were the highlight of the conference. MPA managers, government officials, and Indigenous community leaders from Madagascar, Senegal, Canada, and Chile were recognized for their deep contributions to effective marine conservation. The Blue Park Awards put a necessary spotlight on the sustained effort required to effectively protect ocean ecosystems, long after the relatively easy step of designation steals the headlines. Celebrating that effort always draws an outpouring of emotion from award recipients. This year, that was embodied in the song performed by Rapa Nui Ocean Council members and elected councilors — a moment that captivated the packed room.
With the 2026 class of awardees, the Blue Parks network now spans 40 protected areas covering 4.2 million km² of ocean across 30 countries and Indigenous territories — roughly 1.2% of the global ocean.
Holding OOC in Africa for the first time changed who showed up and who led. More African governments and NGOs engaged than at any previous OOC, more African entities made ocean commitments, and African ocean leadership was central rather than peripheral. This matters for Blue Parks specifically: four of our six 2026 winners are in Africa, and the continent holds enormous potential for the network's growth. OOC11 also confronted a core inequity in ocean conservation: the countries with the least resources are often responsible for protecting the most wildlife-rich ocean areas.
The awards announcement was held within a Western Indian Ocean Consortium event led by WCS and partners, focused on closing the gap between commitments and meaningful marine protection in pursuit of 30×30. MPA designation and financing commitments shared the stage with Blue Parks' focus on effective implementation — a combination that captured the full scope of action that 30×30 requires.
We have a great deal of work ahead. Progress toward protecting 30% of the ocean is slow — and in the U.S., we have recently seen regression. But the Blue Park Awards remind me why celebration is not a luxury.
Success stories generate energy. They pull people forward in a way that scrutinizing failure does not.
After the conference closed, I drove south along the Kenyan coast with a group of ten colleagues, including two Blue Parks Science Council members, to visit Kisite-Mpunguti Marine National Park. Kisite-Mpunguti earned a Blue Park Award in 2021 and has just completed its five-year review, confirming it continues to meet the Blue Park Standard. I have been in contact with Senior Warden Edward Karanja for six years but had never met him in person.
We left at 5:30 am with boxed breakfasts and drove two hours on slow, bumpy roads nearly to the Tanzanian border.
A tall man in a blue collared shirt found me as we arrived: "Sarah?"
Mr. Karanja welcomed me into his office and described what the Blue Park Award has meant for the MPA – for tourism, for community buy-in, for its standing with the Kenyan government. He spoke about the Blue Parks Conservation Fund grant in 2023 that helped launch a community-warden patrol partnership. The pilot was effective enough that the government is now expanding the program to Kenya's other MPAs. He also reflected on the five-year review process itself: it had motivated his team and the government to make real improvements to maintain the Standard.
We spent the afternoon on the water, enjoying the bottlenose dolphins alongside our boat and snorkeling among corals, giant clams, wrasses, parrotfish, and two large groupers. I absolutely love snorkeling, but it was Karanja's steadfast commitment and his account of how the Blue Parks initiative has concretely supported his team's work, that stays with me still, weeks after our incredible trip to Kenya.
That clarity is what I am carrying into Blue Parks’ next phase.
We are now soliciting nominations for the 2027 Blue Park Awards.
Every MPA that earns recognition represents not just a conservation achievement but a model, demonstrating to governments, funders, and communities that effective marine protection is possible and worth pursuing. The more Blue Parks we add to the network, the stronger the case we build for doing this right, everywhere.