The SeaWilding Conference is the largest interdisciplinary gathering devoted to ocean conservation and restoration in Southern Europe. Its second edition returns to Barcelona from 28 to 30 October 2026 with a single through-line: the shift from ocean-as-object to ocean-as-subject.

Over three days, in a single auditorium and with no parallel sessions, the scientific community, legal scholars, managers, ethics specialists, funders, and civil society build one shared conversation. It is structured around two axes, the IPBES Transformative Change Report and the Rights of the Ocean, under the principle of consilience: the unity of knowledge that makes it possible to move from diagnosis to action.

The aim is to translate scientific evidence and legal momentum into an agenda for restorative action, and to consolidate Barcelona as an international hub for marine conservation, in step with the UN Decade of Ocean Science, the Kunming-Montreal 30×30 target, and the European Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030.” The conference is an endorsed activity of the UN Ocean Decade, bringing together more than 20 speakers from science, law, ethics, finance, and communication.

SER-Europe at the conference

We are pleased to share that two voices from the SER-Europe community are on the programme. Luca Jendrek, Marine Restoration Project Officer at SER-Europe, will speak on how science, policy, and stakeholder engagement combine to make marine restoration effective, drawing on the REDRESS, REBORN, and Isla Bonita projects. Jordi Cortina-Segarra, Professor of Ecology at the University of Alicante and former Chair of SER-Europe, is also among the speakers.

If you are attending, we warmly encourage you to join their sessions.