Strong Marine Protected Areas for Our Blue Planet this World Oceans Day

On World Oceans Day, we shine a light on the beauty and importance of our oceans, and the role we all play in protecting them. Over the years, our Founder, The King, has championed the need to care for the natural world and respond to the growing pressures facing our oceans, helping to galvanise action towards a healthier, more sustainable future.

Inspired by this vision, King Charles III Charitable Fund (KCCF) support organisations and community-led initiatives that protect oceans, coastlines and coastal communities, restore vital marine habitats, and respond to urgent environmental challenges. Through partnerships in the UK and around the world, we help drive positive, lasting change – from encouraging responsible fishing practices to inspiring environmental stewardship and community engagement. Below, you can learn more about some of the organisations we are proud to support. 

Marine Conservation Society (MCS)

For over four decades, MCS has played a vital role in safeguarding marine habitats, restoring ecosystems, and mobilising volunteers to address environmental challenges. Through collective action, MCS drives meaningful political and social change to combat the climate and nature crisis 

KCCF is supporting MCS as a strategic partner and recently joined them on a beach clean in Worthing, clearing 28kg of litter and cataloguing 987 individual items over a 200-metre stretch of coastline. Every piece collected helps prevent pollution from entering the ocean and harming marine life and the environment. The data collected also contributes to MCS’s long-running litter database, which informs policy development and campaigns aimed at eliminating marine pollution. Over the past decade and following the introduction of carrier bags charges across the UK, MCS beach clean data has shown an average reduction of 80% in plastic bags found washed up on beaches.Zoological Society of London (ZSL)

KCCF is supporting ZSL’s work to protect and restore vulnerable marine forest habitats across Africa, and the UK – restoring mangroves, seagrass, saltmarsh, and wider coastal systems. Their work focuses on protecting biodiversity, capturing carbon, and strengthening coastal resilience by partnering with local communities and promoting sustainable management, while also helping raise awareness and inform broader conservation efforts.

With a strategic partnership grant from KCCF, ZSL is working in Mozambique, aiming to protect 200 hectares of mangroves from habitat loss from destructive fishing, logging, and development of salt ponds and regenerate 75 hectares of damaged mangroves through management and protected areas. It will also support 25 households to diversify their income through sustainable fishing practices.In the UK, KCCF is supporting the ‘Transforming the Thames’ project with ZSL, which aims to restore and protect at scale across the whole Thames estuary system. Together, the two projects are working towards a better future for our oceans.

KCCF is also supporting the seas around the UK through strategic partnership grants to COAST, and Project Seagrass,  as well as small grants to charities including Cetacean Research & Rescue Unit – CRRU and the Atlantic Salmon Trust – reflecting our Founder His Majesty The King’s enduring commitment to sustainability and the protection of the natural world. Together, we are empowering communities to safeguard and restore the environments that future generations depend on.

World Oceans Day highlights the essential role our oceans play in sustaining life on our planet and reminds us that protecting them is a shared responsibility. To find out more, visit World Ocean Day, Marine Conservation Society, The Zoological Society of London, Project Seagrass, Cetacean Research & Rescue Unit – CRRU and The Atlantic Salmon Trust.