Blue Radio | Gilitics Media
For the first time in its twelve-year history, the Our Ocean Conference is being held on African soil.
OOC11 opened in Mombasa on June 16, 2026, hosted by the Government of Kenya across Mombasa and Kilifi counties under the theme ”Our Ocean, Our Heritage, Our Future.”
Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Mining and Blue Economy Hassan Ali Joho, at the opening ceremony, stated that “by hosting OOC11, Kenya seeks to leave a lasting imprint on global ocean governance, one that ensures future generations inherit a resilient, productive, and just ocean.”
Historically, the terms of global maritime policy have been set far from the coastlines most affected by them. Decisions about marine protected areas, fishing rights, pollution standards, and conservation finance have largely been shaped by institutions in the Global North, with African coastal communities often receiving the outcomes rather than being actively involved in shaping them.
The conference brings together governments, scientists, civil society organizations, youth leaders, and private sector players to advance commitments across six priority areas: marine protected areas, sustainable blue economy, the ocean-climate nexus, sustainable fisheries, marine pollution, and maritime security.
Since the conference began in 2014, it has generated more than 2,900 commitments valued at over $169 billion globally. This year's conference seeks to find solutions on how to deliver on what has already been promised.
The 30x30 target, protecting at least 30% of the ocean by 2030, sits at the center of that delivery challenge. With less than five years remaining, progress is not keeping pace with the ambition. Too many marine protected areas exist only on paper. Too many commitments lack the funding, enforcement, and local leadership required to produce real outcomes in the water.
Hosting OOC11 gives African nations a platform to make that argument loudly and with authority that effective ocean protection requires the communities closest to the ocean to be at the center of its governance, not at the receiving end of decisions made elsewhere.
Hosting the event in Mombasa, a historic Indian Ocean trading center located along the famed Swahili Coast is a significant step in recognizing the importance of this argument.
