The Ocean’s Action Gap

June 28, 2025

The Ocean’s Action Gap

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This year’s UN Ocean Conference convened global leaders to address a critical challenge: the gap between ocean restoration goals and the pace of action being taken.

While new technological capabilities hold promise to accelerate efforts, restoring the ocean’s health ultimately depends on building the systems and strategies to turn shared ambitions into scalable impact.

To explore what closing the action gap really requires, Wave connected with some of its closest partners and examined the research. What emerges is a clear message: regenerating the ocean within a human generation is possible, but only through radical collaboration and better systems for aligning effort with impact.

Why the Action Gap Persists

Despite increasing commitments and growing knowledge, stakeholders across science, policy, and industry continue to work in silos, often duplicating efforts or failing to coordinate altogether.

Responses to ocean challenges remain largely fragmented, often siloed by subregion, sector, or institution.

Anuradha Bhattacharya MENA Oceans

Anuradha Bhattacharya, Director of MENA Oceans Initiative at Goumbook, sees this dynamic firsthand. “Responses to ocean challenges remain largely fragmented,” she says, “often siloed by subregion, sector, or institution.” In the MENA region, this lack of coordination prompted the creation of the MENA Oceans Network, an initiative providing purpose-built frameworks designed to align diverse actors across the Middle East and North Africa region.

At the heart of the problem is the absence of structured collaboration. Closing the gap between science, policy, and industry requires more than alignment on goals; it necessitates continuous engagement, accessible evidence, and context-specific pathways for action. Bhattacharya points to the importance of “closing the science-industry-policy loop” by addressing data gaps, establishing baselines, and developing shared indicators that can guide coordinated efforts.

In a system as interconnected as the ocean, the principles MENA Oceans is developing extend beyond any one region. Purpose-built frameworks, like regional working groups or international collaborations, are essential for surfacing shared challenges and designing interventions with scalable, systems-level impact.

Ocean Action Begins with Finance

“The ocean is not merely part of the economy,” says Olivier Wenden, Vice Chairman and CEO of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation. “It is the economy itself.” Yet most ocean initiatives lack access to the capital and market models required to drive large-scale, long-term change.

It's high time businesses become primary stakeholders—not merely donors—in the regenerative ocean economy.

Olivier Wenden Vice Chairman & CEO, Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation

Alfredo Giron, Head of Ocean at the World Economic Forum, says the funding gap is not about a lack of interest. The bottleneck is turning promising efforts into investable ventures. “It’s not strictly about finding new projects,” he explains. “It’s about structuring them in ways that attract investment.”

That investment also hinges on transitioning the large incumbent industries that dominate the ocean economy, from shipping and seafood to coastal infrastructure. “It’s high time businesses become primary stakeholders, not merely donors,” says Wenden. “The future of our oceans demands economically viable models that fuse profitability with sustainability.”

Collaboration is a Competitive Edge

The Blue Economy and Finance Forum (BEFF), held during the UN Ocean Conference, was designed not to generate pledges but to catalyze action. “It’s not about empty panels,” Wenden says. It is a space for financial and economic actors to exchange proven models and scale them.

The shift is that now investors and ecosystem players are seeing opportunities to do things together.

Alfredo Giron Head of Ocean, World Economic Forum

The investment community is beginning to recognize the value of joint action, and this collaborative approach extends beyond events. In 2022, there were just six entrepreneur-supporting organizations (ESOs) in the 1000 Ocean Startups coalition. Today, there are 56 members, including ESOs, investors, and other partners. “The shift is that now investors and ecosystem players are seeing opportunities to do things together,” Giron says.

It is also changing how early-stage projects develop. “Competitions, accelerators, and innovation platforms are fundamental for nurturing ocean ventures at every stage of innovation,” Wenden says, highlighting efforts like the Monaco Ocean Protection Challenge, MIT Solve, and The Earthshot Prize. “These initiatives foster projects from conceptual inception to market-ready solutions.”

Grounding Action in Data

For both Wenden and Giron, data is one of the most promising levers for coordinated action. “Much of the new blue economy is a data-based economy,” says Giron. Most of the financial opportunity, he says, will come from high-quality data services: collection, processing, insight development, and communications.

Much of the new blue economy is a data-based economy.

Alfredo Giron Head of Ocean, World Economic Forum

Wenden agrees, noting that better data unlocks investor confidence. “When viewed correctly—through transparent, scientifically credible data—the blue economy represents nothing short of a strategic imperative and an extraordinary financial opportunity, merging profitability with planetary impact.”

Yet crucial data gaps persist. Without better visibility into areas such as protected habitats and resource harvesting, decision-makers struggle to act. Ocean Central helps address those gaps by convening the best available science, tracking progress on marine life and ecosystems, and making data useful for action.

What Makes Collaboration Work

Wave’s Chief Scientist Professor Carlos Duarte’s global analysis “A Tide of Change” reviewed 217 conservation successes across four decades. The study found that when governments, scientists, businesses, and local communities aligned their goals, ocean recovery accelerated.

So what enables that kind of collaboration?

“The fundamental barrier lies in the divergence of operational timelines,” says Wenden. Governments move slowly. NGOs respond to urgent crises. Businesses operate on market-driven cycles. “The solution lies in aligning these diverse actors around a common economic vision—the ocean as an investable asset,” Wenden explains. Once stakeholders share this framing, coordination becomes much easier, he says.

Giron offers practical advice for building effective collaborations: Stay informed. Understand government and sector priorities. And find champions who want to work with you for the right reasons. In Mexico, for instance, a leading bank became the largest backer of mangrove restoration after learning it was a national priority. The result: local job creation, scientific research, and ecosystem recovery.

A Tide of Change: Lessons from the Research

Local Communities Drive Success

In “A Tide of Change,” researchers led by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology found that conservation efforts were most successful when involving partnerships at the local level. “Scientists often only visit the locations for short periods of time,” the study authors write, “whereas local coastal communities, the main beneficiaries of conservation efforts delivering healthy marine ecosystems, are best poised to act as committed, long-term stewards.”

A Tide of Change: Lessons from the Research

Solutions Must Fit the Ecosystem

“There is no ‘one fits all’ solution,” the researchers conclude. Conservation strategies and actions need to be tailored to each location or problem. Coral reefs need climate resilience and pollution control. Seabirds thrive when invasive predators are removed. Fish stocks rebound with marine protected areas. Targeted actions yield tangible results.

A Tide of Change: Lessons from the Research

Collaboration Makes the Difference

Most successful restoration efforts are supported by human efforts and succeed when they are part of a coordinated plan. “Conservation failure and success seem to be largely determined by the robustness of governance, by resource allocation, and by the commitment and collaboration between stakeholders,” the study authors note.

Aerial survey teams from three countries
National park agencies and marine scientists
Trilateral Seal Expert Group coordinating monitoring

Why it matters

Over 40 years of aerial surveys showed a dramatic tenfold recovery of the harbour seal population. Regional differences in recovery underscored how long-term coordination and local policy can shape conservation outcomes.

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A Call for Strategic Alignment

Momentum is building. The UN announced nearly $1 billion in new funds to support ocean innovation. The ReOcean Fund is targeting growth in areas like shipping decarbonization, blue food, and ocean data intelligence. A new 30x30 Ocean Action Plan aims to align global initiatives behind a shared blueprint for ocean protection. And as part of a new Blue Economy Working Group formed by Wave, FII Institute, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, and Red Sea Global, a new report on regenerative tourism offers practical frameworks to guide collaboration, investment, and innovation in building a resilient blue economy.

Achieving lasting alignment across institutions, governments, and industries requires urgency, structure, and a clear vision. “The era of empty pledges and inconclusive panels must end,” says Wenden. “Stakeholders must commit to actionable, scalable solutions that drive simultaneous economic growth and environmental protection.”

Wave is calling for an end to fragmented action. Ocean regeneration depends on breaking down silos, aligning efforts, and turning commitments into measurable progress. The work ahead demands that we convert momentum from convening into sustained, coordinated action across the global ocean community.