MPA Day 2026 Event Map Connects Ocean Communities Worldwide

Built on Esri’s ArcGIS Experience Builder platform, the MPA Day event map allows anyone, anywhere, to add an ocean-related event online so that ocean lovers nearby can discover it and get involved. The interactive map was developed as a collaboration between Mission Blue and MPA Day and was built by Mission Blue’s GIS Analyst, Moloko Kgowedi.

Now in its sixth year, MPA Day is celebrated annually to raise awareness of Marine Protected Areas and their importance for both people and nature. First launched in 2021, the Two Oceans Aquarium, co-Champions of the Mission Blue False Bay Hope Spot (alongside Cape RADD), was one of a consortium of organisations that initiated MPA Day, intending to help more people understand, celebrate, and support MPAs. In 2024, Mission Blue’s Hope Spot network helped to expand that vision to a global audience, with 15 Hope Spots taking part in events across regions from Northeast Iceland to Nusa Penida in Indonesia.

Those celebrations showed the many ways communities can connect with protected ocean places: rocky shore explorations, free snorkelling trips, beach and underwater cleanups, guided hikes, community presentations, student activities, virtual tours, film screenings, dives, workshops, and citizen science. Together, they demonstrated that MPAs are not only protected areas on a map. They are living places strengthened by the people who learn from them, care for them, and advocate for their future.

This year’s theme, “Ocean Protection Needs Human Connection,” carries that message forward. Whether you are planning a beach cleanup, dive, film screening, school activity, community gathering, art event, or ocean celebration, the MPA Day event map helps people find you and join in.

Together, we can make MPA Day 2026 the biggest yet. Visit mpaday.org/get-involved to add your event and find out more.