The World Just Promised Billions, But Will the Ocean Benefit?

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The world just promised another
$6.5 billion to protect the ocean.

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Now, it sounds like incredible
news, but here's the real question.

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How much of that money will
actually turn into healthier oceans?

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This is How to Protect the Ocean
podcast, your weekday ocean news update.

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about the ocean Monday to Friday,

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hit that follow button now so
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Today we're answering
one important question.

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What was actually announced at
the 2026 Our Ocean Conference?

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It's an international conference
that happened in Kenya.

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And why should we pay attention
beyond the headline number?

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Now, if you followed ocean conservation
for any length of time, you probably

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heard some big announcements before,
like millions of dollars or billions

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of dollars, new marine protected
areas, bold international commitments,

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and then, of course, silence.

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It's fair to wonder whether
these conferences produce real

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change or just press releases.

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But this year's Our Ocean Conference
may deserve a closer look.

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Held in Mombasa, Kenya, it marked
the first time a conference has

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ever been hosted on African soil.

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That alone is significant.

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Africa has 38 coastal and island nations
and millions of people whose livelihoods

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depend directly on healthy oceans.

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For years, many of those voices
have been unrepresentative in

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global ocean conversations.

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This conference put them at the center.

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And by the end of the meeting, more
than 100 governments, businesses,

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and civil society organizations have
announced 320 new commitments worth

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about $6.4 billion focused on ocean
conservation, sustainable fisheries,

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climate resilience, and the blue economy.

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And to be honest, the $6.4 billion doesn't
sound like a lot of money compared to

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what you see these days when we put into,
like, AI and all these other things.

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But it is a big number
for ocean conservation.

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But numbers alone don't save the ocean.

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So let's unpack what this really means.

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The Our Ocean Conference
isn't a treaty negotiation.

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Countries aren't signing
legally binding agreements.

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Instead, it's a place where
governments, companies, foundations,

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researchers, and conservation
organizations voluntarily announce

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actions they're committing to take.

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And next year's Our Ocean Conference
is gonna be in Halifax, Canada,

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which I will probably be at.

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And it'll be interesting to see
how one of these conferences run.

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The Ocean Decade Conference, which I
went to in Nice, France last year, was

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a very interesting type of conference.

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It's not a normal conference that
you would go to, like International

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Marine Conservation Congress, where
you see a bunch of presentations.

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You kind of go into a lot of it, and
you find out what's happening around

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the world with science and conservation
projects and all these success stories

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and maybe some challenges that they're
facing and all this other stuff.

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But the problem is, is like there's
also things that happen at the Ocean

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Decade Conference where there's a lot of
countries that commit money and commit

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to specific actions that will happen.

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Now, whether they actually happen
or not, that's another story.

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But that's what they commit to, and
people get pretty excited about it.

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Now think of it like really
as an accountability platform

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at these conferences.

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Participants stand up and say, "Here's
what we're going to do." Then in future

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years, those commitments are tracked to
see whether they've actually delivered.

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This year's announcements
covered a wide range of issues.

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Some focus on expanding
marine protected areas.

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Others targeted illegal fishing,
climate resilience, sustainable

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fisheries, marine pollution, and
finance for coastal communities.

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So a few examples stood out
that I wanna talk about.

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The World Bank Group pledged one
billion dollars over the next two

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years to help developing countries
build resilient blue economies.

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Host nation Kenya announced roughly
42 commitments, including expanding

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marine protected areas, improving
fisheries monitoring through electrical

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vessel monitoring systems, mobilizing
climate finance, and supporting

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sustainable ocean industries.

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French Polynesia announced stronger
protections within the world's largest

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marine protected area by adding more than
27,000 square kilometers of new regulated

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fishing zones and protected seamounts.

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And Canada committed hundreds of
millions of dollars to modernize its

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small craft harbors program, supporting
coastal infrastructure that many

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fishing communities highly depend on.

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Now, these aren't all
solving the same problem.

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They're pieces of a much larger puzzle.

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And here's what caught my attention.

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The biggest story isn't the actual
money amount, the $6.4 billion.

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It's the conference has started measuring
whether previous promises were kept.

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That's a huge thing.

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One of the biggest criticisms of
international conferences is that

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leaders make ambitious announcements,
and then they just move on.

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The Our Ocean Conference has
been trying to change that.

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According to the conference organizers,
since the initiative began in 2014, more

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than 80% of previous commitments are
either complete or actively in progress.

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That's a surprisingly strong
implementation rate compared to many

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international environmental processes.

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But does that mean that
every commitment succeeds?

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Absolutely not.

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Some projects stall.

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Some priorities change.

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Some funding takes years
to reach communities.

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But measuring implementation is important
because it shifts the conversation

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away from promises and towards results.

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Like, let's be honest, I covered on
Monday that Canada has actually shifted

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what they are going to be able to
accomplish in terms of emissions rates

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for greenhouse gases compared to what
their initial promise was by 2030.

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They are going to be higher because
of shifting priorities for economic

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opportunities considering the changes
that are happening in the US right now.

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Now, is this something that we wanna
see as Canadians or as the world?

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Absolutely not.

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But it's something that changes, and
this gets tracked because we wanna

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find out what we were supposed to
be at and what we're going to be at

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by 2030 in terms of metric tons of
greenhouse gases that are released.

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And this is not, like, just one example.

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It's many examples of how they track
these commitments because once you make

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that announcement, it's great to be
like, "Oh, yeah," like, you know, "Canada

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made this announcement," you know,
"The Philippines made an announcement."

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But then all of a sudden, you're just
like, "Well, do they actually do it?"

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'Cause you can make as many announcements
as you want, but it's just not that

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great if you don't follow through, right?

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'Cause people get disappointed.

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They lose trust, and that's a big
thing when it comes to government

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trust within their own people and
whether that party gets voted back.

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So another reason this year's
conference matters is where it happened.

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Hosting the event in
Kenya wasn't symbolic.

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It reflected a broader
shift in ocean leadership.

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Too often, global ocean policy
has been shaped primarily by

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wealthier developed countries.

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Yet many of the nations most dependent
on healthy oceans are in Africa,

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the Pacific, and the Caribbean.

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Those countries are dealing directly
with declining fisheries, sea level

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rise, coral reef loss, and increasing
pressure on coastal livelihoods.

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Putting African leadership at the center
changes the conversation from how do we

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protect the ocean to how do we protect
the ocean while supporting the people

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who depend on it every single day?

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That's a much more practical conversation,
and it's one conversation that has

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needed to happen for a long time.

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Now comes the hard part,
the implementation part.

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Making announcements is easy.

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Building fisheries monitoring
systems probably takes years.

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Creating marine protected areas requires
enforcement and also takes years.

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Restoring ecosystems
require long-term funding.

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Supporting coastal communities means
listening to local knowledge, not simply

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delivering projects from the outside.

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Over the next year, organizations
will begin reporting on the

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progress of these commitments.

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Some will likely move quickly,
others will take several years,

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and many may not fully materialize.

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That's why transparency matters.

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That's what's good about
Our Oceans Conferences.

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One encouraging trend is that the
conference increasingly focused not

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just on announcing new commitments,
but also reviewing older ones.

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That creates pressure for
governments and organizations to

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follow through on their promises.

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Another interesting
development is what's next?

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The next Our Ocean Conference will
be hosted by Canada in Halifax, Nova

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Scotia in twenty twenty-seven, with
a planned focus on Indigenous and

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community leadership alongside
sustainable blue economy initiatives.

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That means the momentum from Kenya now
shifts to Canada, my home country.

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It will also be an opportunity to
ask a simple question: did this

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year's promises of six point four
billion dollars become real action?

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Because ultimately, success won't
be measured in dollars announced.

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It will be measured by healthier
fisheries, better marine protected areas,

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stronger coastal communities, and an ocean
that's more resilient than it is today.

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And one of the things that I'm really
looking forward to next year at the Our

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Ocean Conference is the fact that we
are seeing Indigenous communities not

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only just participate in major projects
in Canada, but also take ownership

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and have equity in these projects.

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So the equity comes with them
making money, building a stronger

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community because they're able to
make money on these projects, but

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also have an equal amount of say.

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Equal amount of say in how the environment
is treated because Indigenous communities

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know how to treat the environment.

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They know how to manage the
environment while being economically

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beneficial or while working with
whatever project they're working on.

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And having that say of, like,
fifty percent equity is gonna be

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a huge thing for the environment,
and I can't wait to hear more on

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that at Our Oceans Conference.

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I hope to be a part of that.

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I hope to be able to say, "Hey, let's
just get that information out there,"

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because that's really, really important.

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That's gonna be huge.

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And so ocean conservation
isn't built on announcements.

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It's built on keeping promises.

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So that's it for today's episode.

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That's what I want you to really
focus on when you hear these

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announcements and I want you to
follow up with these announcements.

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Make sure that your country is
committing and actually implementing

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those commitments and announcements
that they made at this year's Our

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Ocean Conference and in the past.

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It started in twenty fourteen.

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It continues to happen.

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It's time we start holding
our governments accountable.

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I wanna thank you so much
for joining us today.

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If you wanna learn more about the ocean,
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Join the community, support this
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I wanna thank you so much for
joining me on today's episode of the

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How to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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Have a great day.

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We'll talk to you next
time, and happy conservation.