About OVL

The Ocean in Crisis

Human activities have pushed the Ocean to a critical state, with millions of tons of marine life extracted from and pollution dumped into it.

Ambitious marine protection goals have been set, such as designating 30% of the Ocean as Marine Protected Areas by 2030. However, to date, progress has been insufficient. Only 8% of the Ocean are protected (with only 2.9% fully protected). This underpins the ineffectiveness of existing marine protection obligations due to a lack of judicial enforcement and the tendency to manage marine life as a human resource rather than recognising the intrinsic value of the Ocean and its ecosystems

Safeguarding the Ocean through law

We are dedicated to safeguarding the Ocean through law, by:

enforcing existing marine protection obligations by holding State actors accountable (Ocean Litigation);
creating and facilitating the development of new laws that foster an ethical relationship with the Ocean (Ocean Rights);
and provide pro bono support to those communities whose livelihoods are must affected by human activities in the Ocean, espeically indigenous peoples and costal communities (Ocean Guardianship).

Read more about our Mission in this blog post.

Support our Mission

Together, we can make a lasting impact on marine conservationYour support and collaboration are crucial in our efforts to enforce marine protection laws, advocate for Ocean Rights, empower communities, and foster a deeper understanding of the Ocean's intrinsic value.

Support of specific projects, such as the prohibition of bottom trawling, violation of Human Rights by deep seabed mining, the designation of Antarctic MPAs, advocacy for the recognition of legal personhood of the Ocean (UDOR) or of specific marine species, like Whales (Hinemoana Halo Declaration)

Support of Ocean Vision Legal as an organisation as a whole, which allows us to allocate the funds to our pro bono projects with Ocean communities and to provide free accessible information.

Become an Ocean Guardian and allow us to provide free legal consultation to those communities who are most affected by adverse impacts oh human activities in the sea through your donation.