As global efforts to decarbonize shipping accelerate, African countries have an opportunity to advance a just and inclusive transition to low-carbon maritime transport. Africa’s maritime sector is vital to trade, economic growth, food security, and climate resilience.
Hosted by the State Department for Shipping and Maritime Affairs, Kenya Maritime Authority in collaboration with MTCC-Africa and regional and international partners, this side event at the 11th Our Ocean Conference (OOC11) will bring together global leaders, governments, high level negotiators, policymakers, financial institutions, maritime administrations, development partners, and industry leaders to explore practical approaches for maritime decarbonization and ocean financing.
Discussions will focus on strengthening regional cooperation specifically the North-South cooperation, digitalization, promoting technology transfer and innovation, mobilizing investment for green shipping and sustainable port development, and enhancing access to climate finance in Africa. The event will also highlight the Regional Industry Alliance for Africa (RIA-Africa) under the MTCC Africa programme as a platform for collaboration among governments, development partners, Africa Union Commission, Association of Africa Maritime Administrations (AAMA), industry, academia, and financiers.
By connecting policy, finance, and implementation, the session aims to accelerate climate action, support bankable projects, and foster a sustainable and resilient maritime future for Africa while aligning with the principles of the UN SGDs.
The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region holds strong potential for a sustainable blue economy, supporting livelihoods, food security, and economic growth. However, increasing pressure on marine ecosystems requires a shift towards more sustainable and investment-ready models. This side event will highlight Germany’s contribution, through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and a collection of projects implemented by GIZ, including ProsperBlue programme, which is advancing an inclusive and sustainable blue economy in the WIO region. It will showcase practical experiences from Africa and regional stakeholders such as Our Blue Future, demonstrating how technical assistance, policy support, and financing approaches can unlock opportunities while protecting marine ecosystems. The discussion will focus on moving from fragmented initiatives to scalable investment opportunities by strengthening pipelines, improving access to finance, and aligning public and private actors. It will also highlight the role of regional coordination, including the Nairobi Convention, and perspectives from partners such as BMZ and the European Union on investment mobilisation. The session will explore practical ways to better link policy, sustainability, project development, and financing to scale impact across the region.
Africa’s blue carbon ecosystems—mangroves, seagrasses, and tidal marshes—sequester up to 1.5 billion tons of CO₂ annually while covering less than 1.0% of the continent’s surface area. These coastal wetlands reduce climate change impacts, protect over 50 million people from storm surges, support biodiversity, and sustain livelihoods. However, they are disappearing at 2–3% per year due to human and natural drivers. Most African nations do not include blue carbon in their greenhouse gas inventories, limiting policy support and climate financing opportunities.
The African Blue Carbon side event at the 11th OOC bring together diverse stakeholders to deepen scientific understanding, share innovations, and foster collaboration for the conservation and sustainable management of blue carbon ecosystems. The event will explore regional cooperation, fostering networks and capacity-building initiatives.
Expected outcomes include prioritized research agendas, policy frameworks to incorporate blue carbon in climate strategies, proposals for a dedicated Blue Carbon Fund, and new commitments with practical tools. Together, these efforts aim to position Africa’s blue carbon ecosystems at the forefront of climate action and sustainable development.
Despite expanding marine protected areas and ambitious climate commitments, degradation persists where economic systems reward short term extraction over long term stewardship. The problem is not a lack of science or political declarations. In too many coastal economies, healthy ecosystems cannot compete financially with destructive alternatives.
This session reframes ocean recovery as an economic design challenge. Drawing on experience in the Western Indian Ocean, we will show that when sustainable fisheries, habitat restoration, and community enterprise generate reliable revenues, it leads to improved compliance, strengthened governance, and recovery of ecosystems. When households earn predictable income from stewardship, conservation becomes an economic opportunity. If Africa’s blue economy is to deliver food security, climate resilience, and inclusive growth, the ocean must be treated as a productive asset. Fisheries reform, mangrove restoration, blue carbon, and marine protections act as economic strategies.
We will present perspectives from government, funders, communities, and practitioners, that aligning conservation with income works. In other words, linking stewardship to livelihood gains drives ecological recovery which, in turn, attracts investment. Therefore, if the commitments made at Our Ocean are to endure, they must be economically durable.
Our message: Reframe the incentives; Ocean recovery will follow.
This high-level political side event at the Our Ocean Conference 2026 will position Africa as a strategic partner in the global decarbonization of international shipping under the 2023 IMO GHG Strategy and an emerging leader in ocean stewardship. The event will highlight the ambitious work of several African coastal states and SIDS already underway in cooperation with international partners such as the Danish Maritime Authority, Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN), and global maritime industry leaders.
The session will highlight Africa’s vast renewable energy potential and emerging Power-to-X value chains as a foundation for supplying zero- and near-zero emission maritime fuels. A moderated discussion will address scaling green shipping corridors around the continent, focused on their potential to deliver co-benefits for marine biodiversity, climate health, and sustainable ocean economies. Ensuring internationally harmonized regulatory frameworks and mobilizing large-scale blended finance with tools like the One Ocean Finance Facility are global priorities. The event aims to generate strong political signals, strengthen cross-regional cooperation and catalyze investment-ready partnerships that translate maritime climate ambition into concrete implementation which links climate action with ocean health outcomes.
The ocean–climate nexus has become central to the implementation of the Climate Convention and the Paris Agreement. Research shows that action across seven ocean sectors — from conservation to renewable energy to shipping — could provide over a third of the emissions cuts needed to reach global climate goals, while also supporting jobs, health and economic growth.
Through the UNFCCC Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue, Parties and observers have advanced technical and policy discussions on strengthening ocean-based mitigation, adaptation, and resilience action across these sectors. Simultaneously, the Blue NDC Challenge has catalyzed national ambition by encouraging countries to integrate ocean-based climate solutions into updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). COP31, hosted by Türkiye later this year, arrives at a critical moment, with a focus on translating ambition into local action.
The discussion will highlight how investing in and increasing access to climate finance for ocean-climate solutions can deliver on cross-sector investment, workforce development, and national implementation goals. The side event will offer a readout of the 2026 Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue discussions, preview the launch of the Blue NDC Implementation Taskforce, and showcase practical implementation examples from Türkiye, Australia, Fiji, Belgium, Brazil, and other partners. Special attention will be given to opportunities on the road to COP31 linked to the Standing Committee on Finance draft guidance, the 2026 SCF Forum, and the Pacific Pre-COP process.
By bringing together governments, scientific institutions, civil society, and ocean-dependent communities, the event will create a strategic bridge between policy ambition, finance reform, and local action to accelerate delivery of ocean-climate solutions.
This event will bring together governments from CMAR countries, financial institutions, and technical partners to discuss how ocean commitments are being advanced through both coordinated regional action in the Eastern Tropical Pacific and strengthened national planning processes.
The session will highlight progress under the CMAR 10-Year Action Plan, including the role of shared tools such as the Monitoring Dashboard to track implementation, as well as emerging approaches to sustainable finance. It will also draw on national-level efforts, including Sustainable Ocean Plans (SOPs), as a key framework enabling countries to align governance, investment, and implementation pathways.
Overall, the discussion will showcase how regional collaboration and national processes are converging to scale marine conservation and deliver on global targets such as 30×30.
As the global community approaches the 2030 deadline for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), SDG 14 (Life Below Water) continues to face one of the largest financing gaps. The ocean underpins climate stability, biodiversity conservation, food security, global trade, and supply chain resilience, yet sustainable investment in ocean-related sectors remains significantly below what is required to achieve global targets. At the same time, discussions on the post‑2030 global development framework are gaining momentum, creating a critical opportunity to reposition the ocean at the center of global finance debates.
This side event will review the implementation of the blue economy framework launched at OOC10 (2025) and present strategic directions for scaling ocean finance toward UNOC-4 (2028), with a focus on cooperation platform development and governance strengthening.
The event seeks to move beyond conceptual discussions by examining practical case studies from Latin America and Africa to derive actionable insights for building such a cooperation platform and strengthening its governance structure. By explicitly comparing market-based approaches in Latin America and public and development finance-driven models in Africa, the session will provide cross-regional insights into how different financial and governance models can be integrated into a coherent global system. Illustrative cases, including Chile’s blue bond initiatives and Africa’s sovereign blue bond and regional cooperation platforms, will be used to ground the discussion in practical experience.
The session will focus on how different models—ranging from market-based blue bonds in Latin America to public and development finance-driven approaches in Africa—can be integrated into a coherent global ocean finance system. The discussion will be structured around two key pillars.
First, case-based analysis of ocean finance models. The discussion will be structured around two key pillars. First, a case-based analysis of ocean finance models, examining how financial instruments have been applied across different regional contexts, including private investment and blue bonds in Latin America, and public and multilateral development finance approaches in Africa. These cases will provide practical lessons on financial structuring, risk-sharing mechanisms, and institutional arrangements.
Second, the session will focus on designing a global ocean finance cooperation platform and governance framework. It will explore how governments, multilateral development banks, financial institutions, and private investors can be effectively coordinated, and examine key governance elements, including roles and responsibilities, decision-making structures, financing flows, and mechanisms linking project preparation, investment, and implementation.
Co-hosted by the Republic of Korea and the Republic of Chile, as joint hosts of the Fourth UN Ocean Conference (UNOC-4) in 2028, this event will emphasize the importance of strengthened international cooperation in ocean finance and aims to generate governance insights for the establishment of a global ocean finance cooperation platform.
It will contribute to transforming OOC commitments into coordinated financial action and scalable investment pipelines toward UNOC-4.
SWIOP is an EU Global Gateway flagship programme for sustainable ocean governance, ecosystem resilience and blue economy investment in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO). The Global Gateway operationalises the Green Deal, Ocean Pact, and International Ocean Governance agendas, mobilising public and private finance for sustainable green and blue infrastructure and partnerships worldwide. Co-financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), SWIOP reaffirms these commitments through a regional action that aims to facilitate sustainable, productive, and climate-resilient management of the WIO’s resources by addressing critical environmental and economic challenges in the region. The focus is on ocean governance, investments in the sustainable blue economy, and building ocean ecosystem resilience and blue carbon capture.
With five decades of action-oriented cooperation, the Regional Seas Programme covers over 140 countries and 18 Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans (Regional Seas), out of which 7 are UNEP-administered. The programme provides a legally anchored, regionally driven platform and more than 50 thematic protocols—to protect marine and coastal environments and advance integrated ocean governance through a shared seas approach. The side event “Beyond Ratification: Regional Seas as an effective mechanism in and the Implementation of BBNJ” will examine how Regional Seas supports effective implementation of the BBNJ Agreement. As the Agreement has entered into force, strengthening coordination across national waters and areas beyond national jurisdiction is essential. Regional Seas, with their established governance mechanisms, scientific networks, and convening power, are well positioned to help bridge this jurisdictional divide.
The event will open with keynote reflections on the evolving global ocean governance landscape and the strategic role of regional cooperation in delivering BBNJ objectives. Speakers will highlight how Regional Seas can contribute to implementation of key BBNJ elements, including area-based management tools (ABMTs), environmental impact assessments (EIAs), capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology, while ensuring complementarity with existing regional mandates.
Panellists will explore practical pathways that have already been taken to enhance policy coherence and announce the planned/expected institutional collaboration across governance levels. Discussions will address how regional bodies can facilitate scientific cooperation relevant to ABNJ, support Member States in preparing for BBNJ processes, promote ecosystem-based approaches that consider ecological connectivity between EEZs and the high seas, and foster inclusive participation.
