Ocean Rights

How We Care for the Ocean 

We advocate for solutions that prioritize justice for the ocean and marine species. Despite some progress, the ocean faces the brunt of the triple planetary crisis: pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change. To effectively address these challenges, we acknowledge that the ocean, an ecosystem spanning over 70% of the Earth's surface, needs equitable and just laws and policies, promoting better care and empathy at both individual and public levels. Additionally, we advocate for legal and policy reforms to change the status quo in ocean governance. 

We believe that what we do to the ocean, we do to ourselves, and vice versa.

A Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights 

​​​​Ocean Rights is a legal framework and ethical perspective toward recognizing the ocean's inherent rights and intrinsic value. In partnership with The Ocean Race, Ocean Vision Legal, the Government of Cabo Verde, UNDP, IUCN, and other partners, we are mobilizing leaders towards restoring our relationship with the ocean through the recognition of a Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights or similar, by 2030.

Since the launch of the Genova Process in 2022, we have co-facilitated 8 international Innovation Workshops to gather stakeholders of all backgrounds to contribute to the development of the initiative.

Together, in September of 2023, we presented a document entitled: “We are the Ocean and the Ocean is Us - Establishing a new relationship between humankind and the Ocean” to the UN General Assembly at The Ocean Race Summit - Presenting Ocean Rights in New York. This text signifies our collective understanding of humanity’s inherent relationship with the ocean and how we envision respecting and protecting that relationship.

Advancements in Ocean Rights 

Ocean Rights is a burgeoning global cause, first initiated by ELC (through Michelle Bender) in 2017, integral to the broader Rights of Nature movement. 

We are keen to grow awareness of these advancements and support research, advocacy, and legal developments with communities. 

  • We have published three peer-reviewed articles on Ocean Rights, covering topics including the UN Ocean Decade in PLOS Biology, shark conservation in Sustainability, and overfishing in the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment. 

  • We support the global campaign to recognize the rights of Antarctica as part of the Antarctic Alliance. Learn more here. 

  • We acknowledge and support the leaders in the Ocean Rights space who laid the groundwork for future research and advocacy of the movement. See our past work, developing toolkits on Coral Reefs in partnership with the Howell Conservation Fund, Plastic Pollution, and the Earth Law Framework for Marine Protected Areas.

Photos: The Ocean Race.

Additional resources for Ocean Rights

Header Photo: Gabriel Barathieu / Ocean Image Bank; Resources Photo: Toby Matthews / Ocean Image Bank; Footer Photo: Tracey Jennings / Ocean Image Bank