The global ocean is an essential component of the Earth’s ecosystem and critical to the sustainable development of our planet. Despite growing awareness of the ocean’s crucial role in sustaining life on Earth, there is comparatively limited funding available for marine conservation. To address that deficiency, Blue Action Fund was founded in 2016 by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in conjunction with KfW Development Bank. Subsequently, the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), and Irish Aid became funding partners and Blue Action Fund is now one of the world’s largest public funders promoting marine conservation and sustainable livelihoods in coastal communities.