I grew up in Chile, a country that stretches like a thin line between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, with more than 4,000 kilometers of coastline. The sea is not just scenery but life itself–artisanal fishermen, coastal communities, entire families whose livelihoods depend on what the ocean gives and what we, in return, must protect.
A moment of strain and a reason to push harder
We meet in Mombasa, Kenya for the 11th Our Ocean Conference, June 16-18, 2026, at a difficult time for multilateralism. Processes we have long relied upon, including those hosted by the United Nations, face real challenges. Geopolitical tensions, competing priorities and institutional fatigue test the frameworks that have guided international cooperation for decades.
It would be easy to retreat—to wait for better conditions. But the ocean cannot wait.
The ocean is warming and acidifying. Biodiversity loss is accelerating. Plastic pollution chokes coastlines from Mombasa to Valparaíso in Chile. And under the ocean’s surface, in places we are only beginning to understand, ecosystems critical to life on Earth could face exploitation before we’ve even fully mapped or understood them.
This is precisely why platforms like the Our Ocean Conference matter more than ever.
The Our Ocean Conference: Proof that concrete action is possible
Since its inception, the Our Ocean Conference has mobilized more than 2,900 commitments worth approximately $169 billion. These are not abstract pledges; they are tangible investments in marine protected areas, maritime security, sustainable blue economy and fisheries, pollution reduction and climate resilience.
The conference works because it is based on mobilizing concrete actions. Governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector and philanthropies come together not just to talk, but to commit and to report on whether the investments have delivered.
Ocean Conservancy has participated in every Our Ocean Conference since its inception. This year, at the 11th conference in Mombasa, we are advancing solutions on multiple fronts: ocean-climate diplomacy, a fossil fuel-free ocean, responsible offshore renewable energy, and building coalitions to address plastic pollution, including the scourge of abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear.
But one initiative feels especially urgent.
Protecting the twilight zone before it’s too late
The mesopelagic zone, also known as the ocean’s “twilight zone,” spanning depths of 200 to 1,000 meters beneath the ocean’s surface, is one of the planet’s most critical ecosystems. By some estimates, it harbors upwards of 90% of the ocean’s fish biomass. It is home to prey species that sustain commercially important fisheries and marine wildlife. And through the biological carbon pump, it sequesters an estimated 2 to 6 gigatons of carbon annually, double the emissions of all cars worldwide, making it essential to climate stability.
Yet this ecosystem remains largely unprotected. Growing demand for fishmeal and health supplements is driving commercial interest in exploiting mesopelagic species. In addition, management gaps leave this vast zone vulnerable before we fully understand the impacts of disrupting this area of the ocean.
At the Our Ocean Conference, Ocean Conservancy, Environmental Defense Fund, and the Marine Conservation Institute, with support from a number of partners, will launch the Mesopelagic Zone Conservation Challenge. This voluntary initiative brings together governments, research institutions and civil society to prioritize conservation through a precautionary approach, advance scientific research and integrate twilight zone protections into international frameworks.
We have already built momentum. Last year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress adopted Resolution 035, urging members worldwide to protect the integrity of the mesopelagic zone. And foundational work was completed to assess management gaps, identify conservation opportunities and develop a science-to-action framework.
The triple planetary crisis demands a united response
We are confronting a triple planetary crisis: climate change, biodiversity loss and plastic pollution. These threats are interconnected, nowhere more visibly than in our ocean. Addressing this crisis requires the kind of collaborative action that feels hardest when institutions are strained. But it is precisely in difficult times that we must strengthen, not abandon, our shared work.
The ocean does not care about geopolitics. It does not pause for elections or negotiations. It continues to warm, to acidify, to absorb our plastics and our carbon. And it continues to sustain billions of people who, like the fishing communities I grew up watching along Chile’s coast, depend on its health for their survival.
Our Ocean is an opportunity to prove that multilateralism still works, that when we come together around shared goals, we can still achieve what no nation can accomplish alone. The ocean taught me, as it taught Neruda, that we are part of something larger than ourselves. It asks nothing of us except that we pay attention, and that we act.
For the ocean.
Chilean poet Pablo Neruda understood the importance of the ocean:
Necesito del mar porque me enseña.”
Pablo Nerudo
Chilean poet
The ocean teaches. It teaches us about resilience, interdependence, life. And right now, it is teaching us something urgent: that even when the systems we’ve built to protect it are under strain, we cannot afford to look away.
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