Diina Ndapanda Shatipamba (she/her) is a 25-year-old environmental scientist and ocean advocate from Okongo, Ohangwena Region, Namibia, a region hundreds of kilometres from the coast. Growing up far from the ocean, she didn’t encounter marine science until university, and that distance became the driving question behind her work: how do you build a genuine connection to the ocean in communities that never see it? That question has shaped her career in fisheries science, marine conservation, and ocean literacy advocacy ever since.
Diina holds a BSc Honours in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences from the University of Namibia and is currently completing an MSc in Integrated Environmental Management and Sustainable Development at the International University of Management, with a thesis exploring ocean literacy among Namibian youth and its implications for marine conservation. Her field experience spans desert ecological research at the Gobabeb Namib Research Institute, wildlife behavioural research with the Tsaobis Baboon Project, marine mammal data collection with the Namibia Dolphin Project, and fisheries compliance work with Namibia’s National Marine Information and Research Centre.
Beyond research, Diina has built a track record of turning ocean science into community action. She is the founder of Ocean Literacy For All, a grassroots initiative bringing ocean awareness to inland Namibian communities, and serves as Communications Lead for the Sustainable Ocean Alliance Namibia Hub, where she leads outreach for a nationwide network of members and volunteers. She is also currently serving as Regional Coordinator for the Namibia Youth Chamber of Environment, coordinating environmental programmes and stakeholder partnerships across Namibian regions, and volunteers with Wakapinya Environmental Education, where she represented Namibia in a trilateral youth climate justice exchange with South Africa and Germany.
Diina is a Fellow of the 2026 cohort of the Universal Greening Organisation’s Pan-African youth leadership programme and a graduate of the Ocean Uprise Externship with Parley for the Oceans, where she developed a community-based ocean literacy project as her capstone.
For Diina, ocean advocacy cannot remain a coastal conversation. She believes the countries and communities most disconnected from the ocean are often the ones with the most to gain, and the most to offer, once that connection is built. Through her work, she aims to ensure that Southern African youth are not just recipients of global ocean policy, but active voices shaping it. When she’s not in the field or in front of a classroom, she can usually be found exploring new places, or gently talking someone out of buying a single-use plastic bag.