Ghana has formally signed the Pledge to Advance Ocean Accounts by 2030, committing the country to integrating ocean accounting into its national governance and development planning. The commitment was made on the sidelines of the 11th Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, Kenya, at the Africa’s Ocean Accounting Dinner, a gathering convened to advance the continent’s ocean accounting agenda. The Pledge was signed on behalf of Ghana by Dr Nii Moi Thompson, Senior Presidential Advisor on the Sustainable Development Goals, Ghana’s Ocean Sherpa and the Chairman of the National Development Commission (NDPC), in the presence of key international partners from the Global Ocean Accounts Partnership (GOAP) and government officials of other African countries. Key witnesses included Ibukun Adewumi, Head of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Sub-Commission for Africa and the Adjacent Island States under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, and Co-Chair of the Africa Community of Practice of the GOAP; Ruth Davis, United Kingdom’s Special Representative for Nature; Jared Bosire, Nairobi Convention Secretariat; Officials from the Government of Kenya; Jessica Bridgland, representing the GOAP Secretariat at the University of New South Wales, Australia; Eyram Agbemava of the Sustainable Development Goals Advisory Unit at the Office of the President and Officials from the Africa Centre of Excellence in Coastal Resilience, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
Dr Nii Moi Thompson, Signing the pledge on behalf of Ghana
The signing places Ghana among a growing international coalition of nations and organisations dedicated to transforming how oceans are measured, valued, and governed, with direct implications for marine conservation, sustainable ocean finance, and climate action. The commitment builds directly on Ghana’s Sustainable Ocean Plan, which sets out the country’s ambition sustainably manage 100% of its ocean resources by 2030. Ocean accounts provide the measurement framework needed to track progress towards these targets credibly and to attract the investment and technical partnerships required to achieve them. The 11th Our Ocean Conference, held from 16 to 18 June 2026 under the theme “Our Ocean, Our Heritage, Our Future”, was the first Our Ocean Conference ever hosted on African soil, making Ghana’s signing in Mombasa a moment of particular continental significance.
Ocean accounts are a systematic framework for measuring and managing progress towards the sustainable use and conservation of the ocean. It supports a wide range of governance applications, including marine spatial planning and coastal resilience, sustainable finance and climate reporting, and the tracking of national progress under major international frameworks. These include the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 on Life Below Water, the Global Biodiversity Framework, and countries’ commitments under the Paris Agreement. By advancing ocean accounting, Ghana’s policy-makers will gain the tools to recognise the full value of the country’s coastal and marine ecosystems within national planning, to strengthen governance across fisheries, marine protected areas, blue carbon, and climate adaptation, and to make a compelling case for the country to attract ocean-related financing and build credible partnerships at both national and international levels. Reflecting on the wider continental imperative, Dr Nii Moi Thompson drew the evening to a close with a call to collective ambition. “Africa’s blue economy future will depend not only on resources beneath our ocean, but on the knowledge systems we build to understand the value of our resources and to protect them,” he said.
The Pledge to Advance Ocean Accounts by 2030 is a voluntary international initiative led by Costa Rica and coordinated by the Global Ocean Accounts Partnership. It was launched in the lead-up to the Third United Nations Ocean Conference and is designed as an umbrella framework that accommodates the diverse priorities and capacities of each signatory. Countries and organisations are invited to advance ocean accounting at their own pace, in ways that align with their national circumstances, while contributing to a shared global effort such as the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Global Biodiversity Framework.
Ghana’s signing reflects a deepening commitment to evidence-based ocean governance that is well grounded in ongoing national work. The Global Ocean Accounts Partnership already supports an active pilot ocean accounting project in Ghana led by the University of Cape Coast, placing the country among only four African nations, alongside Kenya, Mozambique, and Madagascar, currently developing ocean accounts under the Partnership’s guidance. This commitment signals the country’s readiness to lead on data-driven ocean stewardship and to stand at the forefront of a global movement to measure, value, and sustainably manage the ocean resources upon which millions of Ghanaians depend.