UK bankrolls communities on the ocean’s front line with £13.9 million investment

Ocean ecosystems will now be protected and resilience increased in some of the world’s most climate-vulnerable coastal communities.

This is being made possible through the £13.9 million UK investment in new funding.

The United Kingdom’s Marine Minister Emma Hardy announced the funding at the eleventh Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, Kenya.

Channelled through the UK’s Blue Planet Fund, which marks its fifth anniversary this year, the investment will support three international programmes delivering measurable results for people and nature: PROBLUE, the World Bank’s Blue Economy Multi-Donor Trust Fund, the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA) and the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP).

PROBLUE is a World Bank-managed fund, supported by multiple donors, that partners with countries to protect and sustainably manage their marine resources.

ORRAA brings together the finance sector, governments and civil society to develop new ways of investing in the protection of coastal communities and marine environments, particularly in developing countries.

GPAP is the World Economic Forum’s flagship initiative on plastic pollution. It creates national partnerships that bring together governments, businesses and civil society to tackle plastic pollution and increase investment in waste management and the circular economy transition in over 20 countries.

A £6.7 million contribution to PROBLUE, up to £2.2 million in additional ORRAA funding and £5 million for GPAP bring the UK’s total commitment to these programmes to over £86 million since 2021.

Marine Minister Emma Hardy said:

Behind every statistic is a community better protected from storms, a mangrove forest pulling carbon from the atmosphere, a family no longer at risk of losing their home to rising seas.

This funding reaffirms the UK’s position at the forefront of international ocean protection. As climate pressures on our oceans intensify, investing in the resilience of coastal communities is not only the right thing to do, but essential.

In São Tomé and Príncipe, one of the world’s smallest and most climate-exposed nations, UK-backed funding through PROBLUE is building coastal resilience.

The programme is working to reduce flood risk for over 800 households and supporting 2000 people through job-focussed interventions. Every dollar of PROBLUE funding has unlocked more than three in wider World Bank investment.

Off the Kenyan coast, ORRAA-supported work in Vanga Bay is pioneering a new approach to ocean finance: developing one of the world’s first marine biodiversity credit schemes in the global south, creating a sustainable income stream for coastal communities tied directly to the restoration and protection of seagrass ecosystems.

Karen Sack, Executive Director of ORRAA, said:

The UK’s Blue Planet Fund has been instrumental in supporting ORRAA’s work in developing an investable finance and insurance product pipeline that supports the resilience of climate vulnerable coastal communities in the Global South, and in building the Alliance.

This latest wave of funding will be critical as we double-down and scale-up vital action for the health of the Ocean and the communities it supports.

Clemence Schmid, Director, Global Plastic Action Partnership, World Economic Forum, said:

Since 2018, the United Kingdom’s continued leadership and partnership have helped the Global Plastic Action Partnership grow into the world’s largest multistakeholder platform tackling plastic pollution, connecting a global community of partners with 25 National Plastic Action Partnerships that translate global ambition into local action.

At a pivotal moment for the global plastics treaty, this renewed commitment will help strengthen this network. This includes NPAP Kenya, which we are proud to launch at the Our Ocean Conference this week, helping unlock investment, create jobs and accelerate the transition to a circular plastics economy.

We are grateful to the United Kingdom for its continued leadership in advancing the global circular plastics agenda.

UK Special Representative for Nature Ruth Davis OBE said:

Our ocean is fundamental to life on Earth and this investment will deliver real, measurable benefits for marine nature, from seagrass meadows to coral reefs that shelter extraordinary biodiversity.  

Tackling plastic pollution, restoring coastal ecosystems and building the finance mechanisms that make long-term marine protection viable are all essential steps in halting and reversing the decline of ocean nature.  

The UK’s continued leadership through the Blue Planet Fund shows what is possible when we treat the ocean crisis with the urgency it deserves.

Whilst in Kenya, Minister Hardy also signed a High-Level Global Commitment on Protecting Climate Resilient Coral Reefs on behalf of the UK and its Overseas Territories.

The commitment calls on signatories to integrate reef protection into national plans, reduce local pressures on reefs, and mobilise global finance to support their conservation.

This builds on the UK’s support of the Global Fund for Coral Reefs, which is helping to scale businesses that build sustainable livelihoods and protect coral reefs in critical locations across the globe. 

These announcement form part of the UK’s broader engagement at a pivotal moment for international ocean and environmental diplomacy, ahead of the first Conference of the Parties to the High Seas Treaty, CBD COP17 and UNFCCC COP31 later this year.

Delivering this work globally helps protect the UK’s own interests by supporting healthier seas, strengthening food security, and building resilience to climate impacts, recognising that our economy, environment and wellbeing all depend on a thriving natural world.