Ocean governance can no longer do without spiritual communities. The depths of the ocean remain invisible to our eyes. In the deep sea, organisms recycle the nutrients that nourish fishing grounds around the world, while abyssal expanses regulate the chemistry that makes Earth habitable.
The ocean is the largest of the invisibles – but it is not the only one: the carbon that warms the atmosphere has no color, the acidification of the waters makes no noise, and species disappear before they are even named.
Imagine to protect
Yet our economy continues to destroy what it cannot see. This is the whole meaning of the theme of World Oceans Day 2026 which will be held on June 8: reimagine. For spiritual traditions, imagination is a moral spring: what we cannot imagine, we do not protect. The future of the ocean therefore rests on four forces: science which enlightens, the economy which supports, youth which inspires and faith which connects. None of these actors can act alone.
A year ago, in Nice, during the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference, religious leaders from traditions from around the world came together, with the support of the UN, as part of Faiths for Unoc 3. Beforehand, more than half a billion believers signed Turning the Tide, a multi-faith declaration for the ocean, calling for the protection of 30% of the seas by 2030, establish a moratorium on deep-sea mining, implement the High Seas Treaty, and defend the rights of indigenous peoples and artisanal fishermen.
This declaration remains open to all communities of faith wishing to associate themselves with it. The campaign also gave birth to the Sacred Ocean report, the first summary of marine actions carried out by communities of faith. The legitimacy of religious communities is not only due to the fact that 85% of humanity claims to belong to a religious tradition. It is based on an age-old heritage: making the invisible real.
Have faith in the future
In Laudato si’, Pope Francis reads the visible world in a sacramental way: our common home, entrusted to our care, whose degradation first strikes the poorest; Islam reads nature as “ayat”, signs of God, and insists on human responsibility towards the living; Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and indigenous traditions recall the intrinsic value of life.
So many spiritual disciplines that the protection of the ocean needs. Certain requests made in Nice have started to materialize. The High Seas Treaty, which entered into force in January 2026, constitutes the first legal framework protecting biodiversity in waters not belonging to any nation.
But the gap remains immense between commitments and actions: only 2.8% of the ocean is actually protected, and even optimistic scenarios do not reach 10% by 2030. Spiritual communities, strong in their sense of the long term, can help bridge this gap.
The ocean, a creation to honor
This requires real moral will – and French leadership at Unoc 3 has been decisive. While multilateralism is faltering, France has chosen ambition: to bring people together, open the way for bold commitments and put the long term at the center. A signal of hope, and proof that ocean governance up to the height of the crisis remains possible.
In Nice, religious leaders recalled that the ocean is not a disposable resource, but a creation to be honored. It is not symbolic: it is the first step towards another economy, capable of discerning when to take less, when to abstain and when to restore. Communities of faith therefore demand to be recognized as full players in the governance of the ocean.
Reimagining, on this World Oceans Day, goes beyond technology and politics: it is first and foremost a moral act. Spiritual traditions invite us to look differently – and together. From this shared perspective an alliance can be born with scientists, environmental defenders and governments. Work that Faiths for Oceans will carry out this month in Mombasa, Kenya, at the Our Ocean conference, on a coast where the call to prayer and the church bell have responded together to the sea for centuries.
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