Waves of Change: Overcoming Barriers to Unlocking Ocean Solutions for Africa

With 2030 on the horizon, the world faces several critical ocean milestones – including achieving 30% protected area and the delivery of Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life Under Water. Realizing these ambitious goals will require accelerated implementation of solutions and enabling conditions that are already well known: sustained financed, action across geographic and governance scales, robust on-the-ground capacity building, and political will.

The Our Ocean Conference is a proven global mechanism for generating and delivering ambitious ocean solutions and commitments. Since 2014, 80% of the voluntary commitments made through the Our Ocean Conference platform have been completed or are in progress. Yet the stresses facing the ocean– climate change, habitat degradation and loss, pollution, and overharvesting – remain global challenges that require continued global ambition.

The 2026 Our Ocean Conference, hosted in Africa for the first time, placed the needs, priorities, and innovative solutions already being implemented across the continent at the center of global ocean policy. To support conference outcomes, the World Resources Institute launched “A Regional Assessment of Our Ocean Conference Commitment Implementation in Africa”. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the voluntary commitments made through the Our Ocean Conference in Africa over the past twelve years, their progress towards delivery, and the enabling conditions and barriers that face organizations and governments implementing ocean solutions on the ground.

Join the report authors and subject matter experts for a deep dive into the report findings, discussion about how African leadership is driving global ocean solutions, and the next steps needed to transition the continent’s ocean and blue economy ambitions into reality.