On Nosy Tanikely, a sliver of an island off Madagascar's northwestern coast, the sea surrounds everything. No permanent settlements, no tourist lodges — justVisitors who pay an entry fee fund the entire operation. It's the only protected area in Madagascar that funds itself completely, and on June 16, that self-sufficiency helped earn the park a Blue Park Award.
Nosy Tanikely was one of six marine protected areas honored by the Marine Conservation Institute at the Our Ocean conference in Mombasa, Kenya — and Africa dominated the list. Three of the six awardees sit in Madagascar, one in Senegal, alongside parks in Canada and Chile. The recognition highlights MPAs that are, in the institute's words, "durable, equitable and effective" at protecting ocean life.
More than 6,000 delegates from governments, nonprofits, and the private sector gathered for the June 16-18 conference, where Lance Morgan, president of the Marine Conservation Institute, framed the moment against a global backdrop. "This cohort of Blue Parks is a powerful reminder of what the 30×30 goal actually requires," he said, referencing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework's commitment to protect 30% of the world's marine areas by 2030. "These six MPAs, protecting different places in the ocean under different governance models, show that effective marine protection is achievable across cultures, geographies and political systems."
What distinguished these sites was not just their ecological impact but their governance. Nearly all feature co-management arrangements with Indigenous peoples and local communities. The Banc-des-Américains MPA in Canada is co-managed by federal and provincial governments alongside the Mi'kmaq First Nations, whose ancestral waters the site encompasses. In Senegal, the Kawawana Indigenous Community Heritage Area protects mangrove forests, tidal channels, and mudflats along the Casamance River under the stewardship of nearby communities.
At the ceremony, the Rapa Nui delegation carried a particular sense of ownership. Their marine protected area stretches across more than 700,000 square kilometers — encompassing Easter Island and Motu Motiro Hiva in the southern Pacific. Ludovic Burns Tuki, executive coordinator of the Rapa Nui Ocean Council, accepted the award on behalf of communities who now help manage the territory. "The area is not only to protect the species, the ecosystem or the ecological process," he said. "It is also to protect our culture and how we live with the ocean."
Back on Nosy Tanikely, director Landisoa Randimbison oversees a park where management is shared between Madagascar National Parks and an association representing fishers and tourism operators from Nosy Be, the archipelago's largest island. Their livelihoods depend on the same waters the park protects — a reminder that conservation works best when the people closest to the ocean are its strongest advocates.