A few themes that stood out:
– The ocean isn’t underperforming — it’s mispriced. UN Kenya RC Dr. Garry Conille shared perspectives from the June UN Oceans Conference in Africa – increased pledges for ocean conservation, moving from pledges to actions. He framed the $175B annual SDG financing gap not as a lack of opportunity, but a failure to catalyze capital at scale — from blended finance vehicles to AI-driven tools like satellite radar for seaweed value chains.
-The science is moving faster than the narrative. Stanford’s Professor Fiorenza Micheli shared new promising findings on coral recovery post-bleaching — and reminded us that with only ~10% of ocean species discovered, the solutions space is still largely untapped.
– Conservation as infrastructure, not charity. Philippe Cousteau made the case for reframing reef restoration the way we think about roads and bridges — essential infrastructure, backed by scalable technology like 3D-printed reefs planted with heat tolerant corals and AI reef mapping that allows rapid scaling of restoration. Ashlan Cousteau reminded us that Oceans are the life blood of our planet and in particular the Southern Ocean is at huge risk from the unsustainable and unnecessary krill fishery.
– Local ownership drives lasting change. Muneerah Merchant (Aga Khan Foundation) and others underscored that coastal-led communities stewardship is the most effective, durable engine for restoration. Muneerah shared about AKF’s Indian Ocean Initiative restoring mangroves, nature-based enterprises and sustainable fisheries.
– Bringing a holistic resilience lens and the ‘Whole of Water Approach’. Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy (World Ocean Council) spoke about finance and innovation that sits at the intersection of all waterways : rivers, oceans, marine-biodiversity as well as doing things upriver and terrestrial.
– Bridging Oceans and Humanity – Dr. Franck Zal (Hemarina) shared about a species of marine worm that has evolved to transition between tide and no tide and has a predecessor of hemoglobin, a universal oxygen carrier and its potential to transform human health.
– Youth Engagement and leadership for Oceans – Anne Parks (Sustainable Oceans Alliance) reminded us that often great movements are led by youth and shared about scaling ocean positive impact with business models.
– Direction matters as much as Scale – Masha Kalinina, Julia Brindisi and Hanna Layton (WELL/BEINGS) shared how small, flexible funding to community-led organizations across the Caribbean can act as a multiplier, turning modest investments into lasting impact by building local capacity and long-term stewardship. Their work funding mangrove restoration, youth marine education, and coastal resilience programs shows how local leadership is what makes conservation durable.
– Blended capital is the unlock. David Cogut and Patricia Purcell closed with a clear thesis: grants alone can’t get us there, but paired with private capital, we can move proven models — like the seaweed economy — from pilot to scale.
Grateful to everyone who joined this conversation, and to our co-convenors at Pegasus and UNDP for helping build the bridge between ocean science and capital markets.