Women & Allies in Climate: Neha Misra
Neha Misra नेहा मिश्रा is sharing solar and story power with people around the world.
Meet Sarah Hameed
Sarah Hameed wants marine protected areas to mean more than lines on a map.
By Andi Cross, Edges of Earth
Off the coast of California, the Northern Channel Islands rise from the Pacific like a distant mountain range. Reaching them requires a long boat ride across water that is known to get rough, regardless of season. In the boat’s wake, it leaves behind the sprawl of the mainland for a chain of windswept islands surrounded by cold, nutrient-rich currents. Beneath the surface, giant kelp forests sway back and forth in the surge while sea lions cut through the water at full speed, disappearing among thick schools of fish gathered along the rocky reefs.
Towering Giant Kelp
Towering giant kelp forests in Argentia, where a small nonprofit called Por el Mar has protected 90% of the coastline through MPAs connected to Blue Parks.
© Andi Cross
Wildlife
The impacts of a well-managed MPA can be felt widely, with Channel Islands acting as a model for the world.
© Adam Moore
Towering Giant Kelp
Towering giant kelp forests in Argentia, where a small nonprofit called Por el Mar has protected 90% of the coastline through MPAs connected to Blue Parks.
© Andi Cross
Wildlife
The impacts of a well-managed MPA can be felt widely, with Channel Islands acting as a model for the world.
© Adam Moore
Marine Conservation Institute works globally to advance stronger protection for the ocean through science, policy, and research, with a focus on evaluating the effectiveness of marine protected areas, or MPAs. While thousands of MPAs exist worldwide, many offer limited ecological protection in practice due to weak regulations, inconsistent enforcement, or poor long-term management. These areas are often referred to as “paper parks”, or protected zones that carry legal boundaries or conservation titles, but offer little real protection in practice. “Lines on a map are not enough,” Hameed says.
Sarah Hameed
Marine Conservation Institute
©
Edges of Earth
“Women are disproportionately affected by climate change and ocean degradation, but still underrepresented in the rooms where decisions are being made. And elevating women in climate leadership improves outcomes.”
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Through its Blue Parks initiative, the organization created a science-based standard recognizing marine protected areas that demonstrate meaningful biodiversity conservation outcomes. The Northern Channel Islands became one in 2019, and Hameed has long been overseeing that rigorous standard. “The thing with the Channel Islands MPAs is that they hold serious significance here in California,” Hameed explained while discussing the region’s marine reserve network. “When MPAs are regulated and managed correctly, positive progress is possible in a world that feels like bad news is around every corner.”
Some other outstanding examples of MPAs succeeding through the Blue Parks initiative include Mexico’s Cabo Pulmo National Park and Indonesia’s Misool Marine Reserve. For Hameed, places like these reinforce a larger reality about ocean conservation: the most effective marine protected areas are never sustained by policy alone. Their success depends on years of work. Hameed explained that those long timelines are exactly what’s essential to understanding conservation itself. Ocean recovery is rarely immediate or linear, but she believes ecosystems can rebound when given the opportunity.
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Globally, momentum around marine protection has accelerated in recent years, particularly following international commitments to protect thirty percent of Earth’s land and ocean by 2030. Yet Hameed cautions that quantity without quality risks creating a false sense of progress. “We need protected areas that are effective in practice, and not just another name on a map that becomes forgotten due to missteps,” she says.
At the same time, she sees another challenge unfolding within climate and conservation leadership itself. “Women are disproportionately affected by climate change and ocean degradation, but still underrepresented in the rooms where decisions are being made,” Hameed says. “And elevating women in climate leadership improves outcomes.”
For Hameed, the work has always been about repairing humanity’s relationships with the natural systems we depend on most. And that mission comes into focus in places like the Channel Islands, where towering kelp forests still move with the currents and small patches of the ecosystem continue to function as they once did. Those underwater forests are all the evidence she needs to keep working. “The ocean has always connected us and has ways of bouncing back if we let it,” she says. “The question now is whether we’re willing to protect the systems that sustain all of us before they reach a breaking point.”
About the Author
Edges of Earth is a global expedition and storytelling platform focused on ocean conservation, sustainable exploration, and environmental progress. Through longform content creation, field reporting, and scientific collaboration, the project documents people and places working toward positive environmental change around the world. In partnership with Women & Allies in Climate, Andi Cross of Edges of Earth supports storytelling and visibility efforts that elevate women leaders operating on the front lines of climate and conservation work.
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