\u00a9 WCS | Kang-Chun Cheng<\/p>\n\n\n\n
June 18<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mombasa, Kenya<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n MOMBASA, KENYA (June 18, 2026)<\/strong> \u2013 At the 11th Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, the Women Ocean Guardians coalition today announced its expansion into Africa. Twenty-six women \u2013 protected area managers, fishers, and coastal community leaders from 11 African nations \u2013 gathered on the Kenyan coast in the days prior, coming together for the first time as an African collective and issuing a declaration<\/u><\/a> for dignity, justice, and healthy oceans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They were joined by women leaders from the Latin America and Caribbean group, the founding hub of the Women Ocean Guardians, who crossed an ocean to stand in solidarity and forge the first links of a truly global network. The six member countries of the Coral Triangle Initiative also signed the Voluntary Commitment, bringing total signatory governments to 14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are not defined by the challenges we face; we are defined by the solutions we create,\u201d said Dr. Ebinimi Ansa, a coastal leader in the Women Ocean Guardians group from Nigeria. \u201cUnited as Women Ocean Guardians, we are shaping a future of dignity, justice, and healthy oceans for all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The African Women Ocean Guardians Declaration<\/u><\/a>, issued following a two-day workshop on the coast of southern Kenya, speaks directly to the realities facing millions of women across more than 30,500 kilometers of African coastline. The declaration calls on governments, international organizations, civil society, and the private sector to take concrete action across four areas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Representing women from freshwater to coastal ecosystems across 11 countries, the declaration makes clear that women are not simply beneficiaries of ocean policy \u2013 they are its architects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The convening and declaration represent the Women Ocean Guardians initiative’s formal expansion beyond Latin America and the Caribbean, where the movement first launched in 2024. The initiative, co-led by WCS, Conservation International, and the Global Environment Facility, is now extending its reach into Africa and Southeast Asia and the Pacific, building on a GEF-supported project to scale women-led marine action globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Women Ocean Guardians is about recognizing that inclusive ocean governance is not an option \u2013 it is a necessity,\u201d said Pamela Castillo, Director of the Marine 30×30 program at WCS. \u201cIt is about understanding that the knowledge, leadership, resilience, and innovation of women are among the most powerful yet underutilized forces for ocean conservation. And, it is about ensuring that the women who have protected these ecosystems for generations are no longer seen as beneficiaries of change, but as architects of it. Together, we are building a community of women united by a shared purpose \u2013 one that crosses borders, cultures, and oceans, and believes that protecting our blue planet requires all voices, all knowledge systems, and all hands working together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the momentum, new support from six Coral Triangle nations represented through the Coral Triangle Initiative \u2013 Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste \u2013 to the Women Ocean Guardians Voluntary Commitment reflects growing support for gender-inclusive ocean governance across the Indo-Pacific. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By signing, these governments join a growing roster pledging to embed gender equity in national ocean and biodiversity plans, elevate women into decision-making roles across marine governance bodies, support financing mechanisms for women-led conservation and climate-resilient livelihoods, promote leadership and technical capacity among coastal women, and strengthen monitoring frameworks with transparent, equity-focused accountability systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe know that true resilience lies in the hands of grassroots women leaders\u2026 who safeguard biodiversity, and strengthen climate resilience every day,\u201d said Christovel Rotinsulu, Deputy Executive Director of Program Services for the Coral Triangle Initiative. \u201cEmpowering women is central to achieving resilient ecosystems, sustainable fisheries, and inclusive governance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe launch we have witnessed today illustrates something important: Global agreements do not implement themselves. They require leadership, partnerships and people willing to turn ambition into action,\u201d said Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN). \u201cWhether we speak about the Global Biodiversity Framework, the BBNJ Agreement, or the Sustainable Development Goals, success ultimately depends on people and partnerships that bring them to life. The Women Ocean Guardians Initiative demonstrates how regional action can contribute to global progress and how women\u2019s leadership can help shape a more sustainable and equitable future for our ocean. The Federal Ministry of the Environment in Germany is proud to support this growing movement and the women leaders driving it forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since its launch at the 2025 UN Ocean Conference, the Women Ocean Guardians initiative has grown from a regional platform into a global movement. The Voluntary Commitment has now secured endorsement from 14 national governments and more than 29 organizations and multilateral partners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With convening processes underway in Africa and expansion into Southeast Asia and the Pacific planned, the initiative is building the infrastructure to ensure that women’s leadership is not an afterthought in ocean policy, but its foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This work was made possible through a grant from Oak Foundation: \u201cWe care that Oak\u2019s grants reach communities in a flexible way, to support the ecosystem, connect and build solidarity, and uplift the self-organizing efforts of women ocean guardians globally,\u201d said Imani Fairweather Morrison, Environment Program Officer for the Oak Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ###<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de conservation de la faune (WCS)<\/p>\n\n\n\n WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in more than 55 countries and in all the world\u2019s oceans, and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by more than 3.5 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium, to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: WCS Newsroom<\/a>. Suivre : @TheWCS<\/a> and @WCSNewsroom<\/a>. Listen: WCS Wild Audio<\/a> podcast. For more information: +1 (347) 840-1242 <\/a><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Les femmes gardiennes de l'oc\u00e9an<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Women Ocean Guardians is a public-private initiative that elevates women frontliners, de-siloing conservation and sustainable use, to participate in meaningful decision-making, transforming ocean governance for more resilient and sustainable outcomes. View the full <\/a>engagement ici<\/a>. S'inscrire en tant que gouvernement, institution ou <\/a>organisation ici<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 26 women rangers, fishers, and community leaders from 11 African nations unite for the first time as a collective \u2013 issuing a declaration for dignity, justice, and healthy oceans;\n
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\nIndonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste sign the Women Ocean Guardians Voluntary Commitment, bringing total to 14 governments <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenoceanguardians.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenoceanguardians.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenoceanguardians.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenoceanguardians.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenoceanguardians.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2412"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/womenoceanguardians.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2415,"href":"https:\/\/womenoceanguardians.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2412\/revisions\/2415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenoceanguardians.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenoceanguardians.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenoceanguardians.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenoceanguardians.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}