History of Marine Conservation Philippines

Founded in 2015

Marine Conservation Philippines (MCP) was founded in 2015 on the belief that long-term marine conservation depends on local communities, government agencies, scientists and volunteers working together. The idea developed over several years as founders Søren Knudsen and Helle Larsen spent time in the dive industry across Asia and noticed what was missing. Many organisations brought volunteers to coral reefs, but few were building up the long-term scientific data, local capacity and government partnerships needed to make conservation results last beyond a single project. They set out to build a permanent Filipino conservation organisation that could operate for decades, rather than launch another short-term volunteer programme.

The organisation established itself in Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental, on the southern coast of Negros Island, a region rich in coral reefs, mangrove forests, seagrass meadows and productive fisheries, but also exposed to the environmental pressures common to coastal communities throughout the Philippines. It was formally registered as a non-stock, non-profit organisation under the name Marine Habitat Preservation of the Philippines Inc., becoming publicly known as Marine Conservation Philippines (MCP).

The early years

MCP began on a modest scale, with a small team of staff, volunteer divers and local supporters carrying out reef monitoring, beach clean-ups and environmental education. Equipment was acquired bit by bit, partnerships had to be earned, and trust had to be built in the surrounding communities. Right from the start, the founders worked alongside local grassroots leaders and government employees responsible for coastal resource management, several of whom still sit on MCP’s board of trustees today, involving barangays, municipalities, national government agencies and local fisher organisations in an approach that came to define MCP. As its programmes grew, MCP developed its own campus in Lutoban, with accommodation, classrooms, meeting rooms, equipment storage and training facilities for conservation work and a rigorous scientific diving programme.

From reef surveys to whole ecosystems

Over time, the organisation’s scope broadened well beyond its original reef surveys. Monitoring expanded into a comprehensive view of marine ecosystems, covering coral reefs, seagrass habitats, mangroves, fisheries and associated marine biodiversity, work you can follow in more detail under Fieldwork & Monitoring on the blog. Training programmes were established to teach scientific diving to volunteers, university students, local government personnel, scholars and staff from national agencies, and mobile training teams later carried this expertise to remote municipalities across the Visayas. University partnerships opened the door to research that informs both local management decisions and the broader scientific understanding of Philippine marine ecosystems, while environmental education grew from occasional community talks into structured youth education programmes now reaching thousands of schoolchildren across southern Negros Oriental, a strand of work also covered under Community & Education on the blog.

Marine Protected Areas

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have remained a central part of MCP’s work throughout its growth and feature in much of our MPAs & Policy coverage on the blog. The organisation works alongside Local Government Units, People’s Organisations and national agencies to strengthen existing MPAs through scientific monitoring, technical advice, ranger support, training and conservation planning, rather than managing the areas itself. This approach rests on the belief that lasting conservation comes from strengthening local stakeholders’ ability to act without taking their place, which is why MCP now also supports government agencies including BFAR, DENR and ENRD with scientific survey techniques, training and management best practice.

Beyond coral reefs

As experience grew, so did the recognition that healthy coral reefs can’t be protected in isolation, particularly as reef threats and climate pressures intensified. MCP expanded into mangrove restoration, seagrass research, fisheries management, plastic pollution reduction, ghost net removal and Crown-of-Thorns starfish intervention, introducing alternative livelihood initiatives where appropriate, on the understanding that conservation and sustainable economic opportunity are often closely linked.

Reaching further

In recent years, MCP has extended its work well beyond its home municipalities. In 2024, it became the technical support partner for marine conservation to two municipal alliances further north in Negros Oriental, BATASS (Bais City, Amlan, Tanjay City, San Jose and Sibulan) and BATMAN (Bindoy, Ayungon, Tayasan and Manjuyod), and has since trained government dive teams from their member municipalities. MCP now also holds a permanent seat on the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) for Apo Island, one of the country’s best-known marine protected areas. In 2026, MCP took on the legacy of Coral Cay Conservation, the UK charity through which thousands of young Britons volunteered in the Philippines before it closed, keeping its reports and data available and welcoming its alumni back. That same year, a partnership with the Centre for Global Citizenship Studies (CGCS) allowed participants to earn UCAS points or US college credit for their time with MCP.

MCP today

What began as a small local initiative has grown into one of the Philippines’ larger independent marine conservation NGOs. MCP now runs multiple long-term scientific monitoring programmes through an ethically sound volunteering programme, collaborates with numerous university and government partners, and supports conservation initiatives across several municipalities in the Visayas. It has trained scientific divers and conservation practitioners, restored and protected extensive coastal habitats, published scientific research, and reached thousands of students through its education programmes. According to our current impact figures, MCP has:

• Helped strengthen protection for more than 300 hectares of marine habitat.
• Planted more than 31,000 mangrove trees.
• Reached over 10,000 schoolchildren.
• Trained more than 1,000 scientific divers.
• Removed more than 1,000 metres of ghost nets.
• Collected more than 427 tonnes of marine litter, including more than 17.9 million pieces of plastic.
• Expanded its work to 14 municipalities across Negros Oriental.

Looking ahead

Marine conservation continues to evolve, and so does MCP. Coral reef monitoring remains a core part of the work, but increasing emphasis is being placed on whole-ecosystem conservation, recognising the value of seagrass meadows, mangrove forests and the ecological connections between coastal habitats. The organisation continues to strengthen its scientific capacity, develop Filipino conservation professionals, expand government partnerships, and improve transparency through open reporting and published research, including through our data portal. More than a decade after the original idea was conceived, the mission remains unchanged: to protect and restore marine ecosystems through research, education, community engagement, and long-term collaboration with the people who depend on healthy oceans every day.