Faith communities, acting together for the Ocean.
Turning shared moral commitments into collective action, and establishing faith communities as enduring partners in ocean governance.
Launched in June 2025, Faiths for Oceans is a global initiative mobilizing faith communities for sustainable ocean protection and governance.
Through research, educational resources and advocacy, it connects faith and spiritual traditions with science, conservation and public policy. It was founded on the conviction that ocean protection needs not only science and policy, but also moral leadership, spiritual wisdom and community mobilization.
Faiths for Oceans is part of the FutureFaith Network, which brings faith communities into climate and nature action around the world.
Visit FutureFaith
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Research and publications
Reports and primers that connect faith teaching with ocean science and policy, from The Moral Catch to The Coral Compass.
See the publications -
The Faiths High Ambition Coalition
An international network of faith communities making public, trackable commitments to ocean and nature protection.
Read about the Coalition -
A faith voice in ocean governance
Moral leadership in the UN processes that shape the Ocean's future, from UNOC3 in Nice to the High Seas Treaty's first Conference of the Parties.
Follow the road to COP1
The Faiths High Ambition Coalition for Ocean & Nature Action
Faiths for Oceans coordinates an international network promoting public, trackable commitments to ocean and nature protection, with clear responsibilities and accountability. Launched at the Ocean Interfaith Forum in Mombasa in June 2026, the Coalition is open to any community, from a single parish, temple or waqf to an entire denomination.
The Declaration provides the why. The Coalition provides the who, the what, the by-when, and the proof.
How joining works
- PledgeMake at least one concrete, time-bound pledge, sized to what your community can deliver.
- RegisterRecord it on the Coalition's public register.
- ReportReport briefly each year on progress.
- Stand togetherStand alongside other signatories who hold one another to account.
New from Faiths for Oceans
The Moral Catch
A catch is never just fish.
A fishery catch is moral when it protects people and the living Ocean, not simply when it is legal, profitable or certified. The Moral Catch translates ethical principles from faith traditions into practical tests across the seafood chain.
Read The Moral Catch
The Ocean Vocabulary
A Moral Glossary for a Changing World
The words we use shape what we value and protect. Yet the Ocean is still too often discussed separately across conservation, economics and policy, and treated as something apart from human life. This glossary brings these perspectives into conversation with moral imagination.
Explore the Ocean VocabularyPublications and primers
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The Coral Compass
Species Testimony from eight iconic reefs, converging on five priorities for ocean governance. Co-created with Nature on Board.
Download PDF
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10 Inner Principles for Ocean Protection
Ten spiritual principles that turn marine protection into a practice of faith, with actions communities can take now.
Download PDF
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The Blue Moral Economy
Faith groups hold approximately US$5 trillion in assets. How that wealth can serve stewardship and community wellbeing.
Download PDF
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The 30x30 Ocean Target
Why protecting 30 percent of the Ocean by 2030 belongs to the work of faith communities, and how they can help achieve it.
Download PDF
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The High Seas Treaty
A guide for faith communities to the agreement that protects international waters, which cover 61 percent of the Ocean.
Download PDF
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Understanding the 2025 UN Ocean Conference
The structure of UNOC3, the Nice Ocean Action Plan and the part faith communities played in it.
Download PDF
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Sacred Ocean, Shared Responsibility
Eleven case studies of faith-based ocean protection, from hima zones in Zanzibar to rahui systems in Polynesia.
Read the report
Turning the Tide
The Multi-Faith Declaration for Ocean Protection
Faiths for Oceans was born on World Oceans Day 2025, at the third UN Ocean Conference in Nice. There, Turning the Tide united diverse faith traditions around a shared vision for a healthy and thriving Ocean, and translated shared spiritual values into concrete policy commitments.
- 300+
- faith organizations
- 500M+
- people represented worldwide
Voices for the Ocean
From Turning the Tide, the Multi-Faith Declaration for the Ocean launched by faith leaders at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, June 2025.
It is a moral imperative to protect and care for the ocean and the people in vulnerable situations who rely on it.
As people of faith and goodwill, unified in purpose, we commit to urgent, transformative action that restores right relationship with the ocean and with one another.
From UNOC3 to COP1
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June 2025Nice
The Declaration
UNOC3 was the moment faith communities stepped onto the global ocean stage, with Turning the Tide and the first Faiths for Oceans primers.
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June 2026Mombasa
The Coalition
On the eve of the Our Ocean Conference, the Ocean Interfaith Forum launched the Faiths High Ambition Coalition for Ocean & Nature Action.
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January 2027New York
COP1
At the first Conference of the Parties to the High Seas Treaty, faith communities claim their place as enduring partners in ocean governance.
From commitments to delivery.
Stay with us on the road to COP1.
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