FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A Norway–Cameroon partnership that places frontline communities, conservation knowledge and education at the centre and opens responsible pathways for storytelling, learning, donations and future conservation projects
ASKER, Norway / EBODJÉ, Cameroon — October 2026
SaveOCEAN AS and the Association Communautaire de Recherche et de Développement TUBE AWU have formalized a partnership, joining forces to support community-led marine conservation, environmental learning and responsible knowledge-sharing.
The partnership connects two organisations separated by thousands of kilometres but united by the same conviction: that the people living closest to the ocean are not simply subjects of conservation they are its most essential practitioners.
TUBE AWU is a community research and development association based in Ebodjé, Cameroon, working in and around the Manyange na Elombo-Campo Marine National Park. Founded through the commitment of local Iyasa-Ndowɛ communities, the association has spent years protecting marine and coastal biodiversity while strengthening community participation in the management of the marine environment. Its programmes include sea-turtle monitoring and nesting-site protection, fisheries and marine megafauna observation, environmental education and active community conservation initiatives.
What the Partnership Does
TUBE AWU brings local relationships, conservation protocols, operational experience and knowledge shaped by years of work alongside coastal communities. SaveOcean brings an ecosystem connecting ocean education, public participation, community storytelling, structured environmental evidence and responsible digital tools — deployed where they add practical value, never as a replacement for community authority.
The partnership’s central ambition is to create more opportunities for TUBE AWU and its communities to share their knowledge in their own voices and on their own terms. Subject to consent and joint editorial approval, this may include community conversations, practitioner profiles, webinars, learning sessions, educational materials and approved conservation stories. The aim is not to speak on behalf of communities, but to build trusted channels through which their experience, priorities and solutions reach educators, researchers, conservation partners, supporters and wider public audiences.
Supporting Conservation Through Responsible Contributions
The partnership also creates a framework for people around the world to support TUBE AWU’s conservation work in concrete ways. SaveOcean will help communicate TUBE AWU’s programmes and needs to its global network, opening responsible pathways for donations, in-kind contributions, knowledge exchange and future community conservation projects — always under terms that TUBE AWU and its communities help define.
SaveOcean’s community storytelling work invites people to share what the ocean means to them, describe an action they are taking and contribute a record from their own location. This partnership creates an opportunity to include TUBE AWU and its communities in that broader initiative, connecting frontline conservation in Cameroon with a global audience that is learning to take the ocean seriously.
What Will Not Be Shared
The partnership includes clear protections for sensitive conservation knowledge. Nesting locations, patrol routes, patrol schedules, information related to poaching or enforcement, and other restricted habitat data will not be disclosed publicly. Community knowledge, photographs, personal stories and quotations will be used only with appropriate permission. Public materials will be limited to approved, non-sensitive content.
“The starting point for this partnership is listening. TUBE AWU and the communities living alongside these ecosystems already hold knowledge built through years of daily experience, responsibility and care for the ocean. Our role is to help amplify those voices — to connect community knowledge with learning and action, and where it is useful, to support responsible ways to communicate and organise evidence. Not to take ownership or authority away from the people doing the work.”
— Aurelia Paraschiv, Founder & CEO, SaveOcean AS
“Our communities are not only beneficiaries of marine conservation — they are knowledge holders and active participants in protecting the ecosystems on which their lives and futures depend. This partnership offers an opportunity to share that experience more widely, strengthen environmental learning and develop new forms of support, while ensuring that community priorities, conservation protocols and sensitive knowledge remain fully respected.”
— Xavier Ndjamo Ndounteng, Coordinator, TUBE AWU
About TUBE AWU
TUBE AWU is a community research and development association based in Ebodjé, Cameroon. Created through the commitment of local Iyasa-Ndowɛ communities, the association works to protect marine and coastal biodiversity in and around the Manyange na Elombo-Campo Marine National Park. Its programmes include sea-turtle monitoring, fisheries and marine megafauna observation, environmental education, and community development.
🌐 tubeawu.org
About SaveOcean AS
SaveOcean AS is a Norwegian ocean organisation building ways to connect environmental education, public participation, community voices, structured evidence and conservation collaboration. Through community storytelling, public learning initiatives and tools including OceanQuest, SaveOcean helps people and organisations move from ocean awareness toward informed participation and responsible action.
🌐 saveocean.net
Media enquiries: ceo@saveocean.net
