By Dr. Lance Morgan | June 29, 2026
The 11th Our Ocean Conference (OOC11) was held in Mombasa, Kenya — the first time in the conference's history that it has been hosted on African soil.
You may have seen the headlines: 320 commitments and $6.4 billion mobilized for ocean action. All of this is genuinely great news, and a reminder of why this annual gathering matters. The six action areas span the full scope of what our ocean needs: Marine Protected Areas, Sustainable Blue Economy, Ocean–Climate Nexus, Sustainable Fisheries, Marine Pollution Prevention, and Maritime Security. In truth, we urgently need to advance all of them to safeguard our ocean's future.
But I want to share the themes that resonated most deeply with me and the work we do at Marine Conservation Institute — particularly the push to make 30x30 real, and the hard questions about what effective MPA implementation actually looks like.
30x30: From Pledges to Protection
A dominant theme throughout OOC11 is "making 30×30 real." Leaders and ocean champions repeatedly stressed that the global commitment to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030 must translate into genuine outcomes — not just lines on a map. The gap between legal designation and effective protection was called out directly: boundaries are drawn without boats or budgets to back them; management plans exist without monitoring or enforcement. This is precisely the implementation gap that our work on MPAtlas is designed to expose and address. Seychelles was held up as a positive example, having legally protected 30% of its EEZ (~410,000 km²), though even there the cost burden of managing such vast areas without sufficient international finance remains a real and ongoing challenge.
Our Commitment: $1M to Accelerate Effective Ocean Protection
During the MPA plenary session, chaired by Dr. Arthur Tuda, a member of our Blue Parks Science Council, I was proud to announce a US $1,000,000 commitment from Marine Conservation Institute to improving marine biodiversity protections globally in 2026. This investment is directed across three interconnected workstreams:
Blue Parks (BlueParks.org) will promote, incentivize, and support gains in MPA effectiveness using the science-based Blue Park Standard. We announced the prestigious 2026 Blue Park Awards right here at OOC11, elevating marine conservation successes from around the world and inspiring further efforts. Our Blue Spark collaborations and our Blue Park Conservation Fund will continue to provide direct support to conservation initiatives in the field.
Marine Protection Atlas (MPAtlas.org) will accurately report MPA coverage, stage of establishment, and protection level, implementing the MPA Guide Framework (Grorud-Colvert et al. 2021). This is the authoritative, science-based accounting the world needs to hold governments and institutions to their 30x30 pledges.
High Seas Conservation will address the application of the Blue Park Standard and our scientific expertise to support the design and implementation of the first generation of high seas MPAs under the BBNJ Treaty. My goal is to help ensure these new protections are built for genuine effectiveness from day one, rather than becoming the paper parks we've seen too many times before. Blue Park Standard and our scientific expertise to support the design and implementation of the first generation of high seas MPAs under the BBNJ Treaty. My goal is to help ensure these new protections are built for genuine effectiveness from day one, rather than becoming the paper parks we've seen too many times before.
Taken together, our intent is to guide, incentivize, support, track, and report the implementation of effective protected area coverage throughout the global ocean — directly facilitating progress toward the minimum 30% needed to safeguard marine biodiversity by 2030.
New MPAs to Track on MPAtlas
Several significant new MPA commitments emerged from OOC11 that we'll be capturing and tracking for quality and effectiveness on MPAtlas:
West Africa Regional MPA — Gambia, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal jointly announced a regional MPA to preserve resources essential to coastal livelihoods. Senegal's Environment Minister Aliou Gori Diouf framed it clearly as a 30x30 contribution: "West Africa is asserting its leadership by demonstrating that ocean protection and sustainable development go hand in hand."
French Polynesia expands the Tainui Atea — One of the most significant individual MPA announcements at OOC11 came from French Polynesia, which declared an expansion of its Tainui Atea — the world's largest MPA — bringing 30% of its nearly 5 million km² EEZ under full protection from extractive industries. President Moetai Brotherson announced the addition of 520,000 km² of newly fully protected waters near the Austral, Marquesas, and Western Society Islands, reaching a total of ~1.4 million km² where seabed mining and industrial fishing are banned. The Tainui Atea itself was only established in June 2025, and this expansion just one year later is a remarkable demonstration of follow-through — exactly the kind of implementation momentum 30x30 needs. French Polynesia has also maintained a moratorium on seabed mining since 2022. As President Brotherson put it: "This is our mission as Oceanians. We also hope that it can inspire other countries, especially the larger ones, in the way they manage their relationship with the ocean." We'll be tracking this carefully on MPAtlas to ensure the full protection designations are accurately reflected and hope that French Polynesia will also be recognized with a Blue Park in coming years.
Climate-Resilient Coral Reef Commitment — multiple countries pledged to identify and prioritize climate-resilient corals in their national policies and 30x30 planning.
High Seas: BBNJ in Force and the First MPAs Taking Shape
The High Seas Treaty formally entered into force on January 17, 2026, having reached 60 ratifications in 2025. By the time of OOC11, 90 countries had ratified it. The first Conference of Parties (COP1) is scheduled for January 2027 in New York — and that timeline gives real urgency to everything that was discussed in Mombasa.
The first generation of high seas MPAs under BBNJ is now actively being scoped. Before COP1, governments must establish a scientific body to review proposals. Possible areas under consideration for that first wave include these (and more discussions are underway):
- Convergence Zone of the Canary and Guinea Currents (West Africa, Eastern Atlantic) — formally advanced by West African nations at OOC11, stretching from Cape Verde and Senegal to Nigeria and São Tomé and Príncipe
- Salas y Gómez and Nazca Ridges (South Pacific, offshore Chile)
- Thermal Dome (Central Pacific, offshore Costa Rica)
- Walvis Ridge (Southern Atlantic, near Namibia)
TNC made a formal commitment to advance up to five high seas MPA proposals by 2030, and we committed to apply the Blue Park Standard to help ensure this first generation is designed for genuine effectiveness. High Seas Alliance Director Rebecca Hubbard put it plainly at the plenary:
"It is now urgent for governments to work together to propose the first set of high seas MPAs. This is the only way we can achieve 30% protection of our ocean by 2030. We need the high seas."
I couldn't agree more. For context, only 1% of the high seas is currently fully protected.
The Mesopelagic Zone Conservation Challenge
I was also pleased to be part of the launch of the Mesopelagic Zone Conservation Challenge at OOC11, as a co-lead alongside Ocean Conservancy and Environmental Defense Fund, with Fiji and Panama stepping up as the government champions of the challenge. Portugal and Vanuatu also expressed support. The initiative calls on governments to apply a precautionary approach to activities in the ocean's twilight zone (200–1,000m depth), advance scientific research, establish management frameworks, and advocate for mesopelagic protections in key UN documents including the Sustainable Fisheries Resolution.
The case I made for why this zone deserves urgent attention is fundamentally about climate: marine life in the twilight zone does more than provide food. Every day, billions of mesopelagic animals migrate to the surface to feed, transporting carbon back down and creating the ocean's biological carbon pump. They transfer an estimated two to six gigatons of carbon per year from the surface to the deep sea — on the low end, an amount equivalent to double the emissions produced annually by all cars worldwide. Most of this carbon stays in the twilight zone or sinks even deeper, reducing atmospheric CO₂. We cannot afford to let commercial exploitation outpace our understanding of this system.
The local stakes are also real. Ocean Conservancy analysis presented at the event showed that the mesopelagic zone is the primary food source for Kenya's tuna and swordfish fisheries — twilight zone species make up 81% of swordfish diets and 46% of yellowfin tuna diets locally, with the industry reporting $3.3M in 2023 earnings supporting hundreds of local fishermen.
Deep-Sea Mining: Africa's Voice in a Growing Coalition
Kenya became the 42nd nation to call for a precautionary pause on deep seabed mining at OOC11. Kenya's Principal Secretary for Mining Harry Kimtai spoke directly to the issue:
"The interest in Deep Seabed Mining is advancing faster than the architecture that guides it… We support the precautionary pause."
WWF-Kenya CEO Jackson Kiplagat praised the decision as "putting science first" — which is exactly where the bar should be.
A growing coalition of 42+ countries now support a moratorium, ban, or precautionary pause. Former Seychelles President James Michel called for a binding precautionary pause as essential to responsible ocean stewardship, warning that opening the deep ocean before its ecosystems are properly understood "risks damage that could be widespread, long-lasting and irreversible." No binding global decision exists yet, and this remains one of the most consequential unresolved fronts as we head into BBNJ COP1.
The Overarching Challenge: Implementation
OOC11's African setting sharpened something I think about constantly: the international community repeatedly asks Small Island Developing States and African coastal nations to protect globally significant marine spaces, yet access to international funding is constrained by income classifications that don't reflect vulnerability or the immense global value of that protection. Without predictable finance for science, surveillance, enforcement, and community engagement, even the most celebrated MPA announcements risk becoming paper parks. Holding governments accountable for the gap between promise and reality is exactly what MPAtlas is built to do, and Mombasa gave us plenty of new work to track. Recognizing the success of these efforts with our Blue Park Standard shines a light on what we all need to do to deliver on these promises.