Mombasa: Key outcomes from the Our Ocean Conference in Kenya

A major ocean conference has ended in Mombasa, Kenya, with just a handful of countries committing to high-level political declarations on banning deep-sea mining, protecting climate-resilient coral reefs and combatting illegal fishing. The Our Ocean Conference (OOC) brought together more than 5,000 delegates to discuss marine issues and make voluntary commitments to advance ocean sustainability. It was the first time in the conference’s 11 editions that it had been held on African soil. African countries played an “important leadership role” at the talks, observers told Carbon Brief, helping to drive ambition on fisheries transparency, a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining and developing proposals for marine protected areas on the high seas. Across the three-day conference, attendees also made 320 separate commitments, including new funding for scientific research, improving waste-management programmes to reduce marine pollution and mapping Indigenous groups’ customary waters. Some of these commitments were accompanied by announcements of new funding, with a total of $6.4bn “mobilised” across all pledges. Several non-governmental organisations also released new reports during the conference, on topics ranging from the implementation of marine protected areas to “climate-resilient” coral reefs. Observers told Carbon Brief that the commitments and discussions at the conference were “positive steps”, but added that these pledges must now be backed up by action. During the opening ceremony, former US secretary of state John Kerry urged delegates to move “from commitments to implementation”. Here, Carbon Brief outlines the key takeaways from the OOC across five major climate-related topics. Background Marine protected areas High Seas Treaty Deep-sea mining Coral reefs Fisheries Background The OOC was first held in Washington DC in 2014, where it was championed by Kerry. The conference aims to “identify action-based solutions and make tangible commitments” towards addr