In 2025, São Tomé and Príncipe reached a historic milestone for ocean conservation with the announcement and subsequent approval of the country’s first eight Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The designation was announced by the Minister of Environment, Youth and Sustainable Tourism, Nilda Borges da Mata, during the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice, France, where she highlighted the creation of the country’s first MPAs as a pioneering step towards the global 30×