Global, Ghana, Mozambique, Republic of Korea

Protecting the Ocean, Protecting our Future

The ocean is fundamental to our existence. It is our life support system and a critical part of the solution to climate change. The ocean provides us with food, jobs, and protection from extreme weather. It is home to hundreds of thousands of known species, while absorbing 90% of the heat and 25% of the carbon emissions that drive climate change.

But for too long, the ocean has been polluted and over-exploited, destroying ocean life and the livelihoods of those who depend on it.

2025 marked a key moment in the fight against this degradation. In this “super year” for the ocean, long-running negotiations and public pressure converged, pushing ocean protection and sustainable ocean economies to the center of global attention.

WRI’s Ocean Program helped turn that attention into progress. We brought leadership, technical expertise and convening power to some of the hardest problems in ocean governance — the laws, financing and decision-making that connect global commitments to what happens in coastal waters, fishing communities, shipping lanes and marine ecosystems.

A major part of that work runs through the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, known as the Ocean Panel, for which WRI serves as secretariat. The Ocean Panel brings 19 heads of government together to advance “sustainable ocean management,” a practical commitment to manage national waters in ways that support livelihoods and economic growth while protecting nature.

Prosperous and Resilient Coastal Communities in Ghana and Mozambique

Ghana shows what can happen when sustainable ocean management aligns global agreements and national priorities with local realities and the needs of coastal communities. WRI helped Ghana develop a sustainable ocean plan that directly addresses challenges to nature and live- lihoods such as illegal and unreported fishing, and the safeguarding of wetlands, mangroves and spawning grounds.

Meanwhile a WRI research project in Inhambane Bay, Mozambique, ensured that local fisher communities’ needs and interests were reflected in the economic and environmental frame- works that drive government policy. In Mozambique such frameworks typically undercount artisanal fishers by up to 80%.

This focus on countries and communities matters, because one-third of the ocean is governed nationally. Countries have rights and responsibilities over the Exclusive Economic Zones that extend 200 nautical miles from their shoreline. Commitments to sustainably manage their national waters have now been made by countries that account for nearly 40% of the world’s EEZs.

WRI is providing every one of these countries with technical support and guidance to turn their commitments inside EEZs into action. Getting this right matters: they shape everything from fishing rules and marine protected areas to coastal restoration and investment priorities, impacting local economies and resilience as well as the health of the wider ocean.

In 2025, WRI also took up its role as secretariat for the annual Our Ocean Conference. The tenth conference in the Republic of Korea generated 277 commitments towards concrete ocean action worth $9.1 billion.

Breakthrough in Protecting the High Seas

The “super year” of 2025 showed what is possible on the high seas, the two-thirds of the ocean outside any country’s jurisdiction, with the commitment of WRI and the ocean community. The year was defined by two global breakthroughs. The High Seas Treaty extended protection to these waters for the first time. Meanwhile the World Trade Organization on Fisheries Subsidies entered into force, creating new global rules to curb many harmful subsidies that drive illegal fishing and the overexploitation of fish stocks.

These two breakthrough agreements were two decades in the making, and could prove a turning point in protecting the ocean — if implemented well. WRI’s strength is its ability to combine building the international momentum to get such global agreements over the line, with local implementation. These strengths will remain critical, with some of the biggest issues unresolved. On deep sea mining, for instance, WRI is helping build the evidence base and shared understanding necessary to set measurable targets.

Safeguarding the ocean is vital but complex, forging global agreements while delivering for local communities and coastal economies where people and nature need to coexist. WRI’s Ocean Program is vital to all these efforts, with its track record of delivery, designing decision-making processes, strengthening governance, and helping countries finance ocean solutions. Its work is powered by the flexible support it receives from governments and philanthropies who believe that protecting the ocean is inseparable from protecting our future.

Republic of Korea

Since 2019, the Republic of Korea has been a core partner of the initiative Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G), working alongside the governments of Denmark and the Netherlands. Through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Korea has helped P4G back early-stage climate startups across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. That support has funded grants and technical assistance that help entrepreneurs in these emerging economies become invest- ment-ready, connect with public–private platforms that can unlock new markets, and strength- en the broader startup ecosystems that make climate innovation possible.

WRI and Korea have begun exploring additional areas of shared focus. These include climate and environmental data and AI tools, ecosystem restoration, and sustainable water manage- ment. We value Korea’s partnership and look forward to deepening our collaboration in the years to come.