3 things you should know about global efforts to save our ocean

All eyes will be on Nice, France, on 9-13 June 2025, when the international community will gather for the third UN Ocean Conference, co-hosted by France and Costa Rica. As climate change, plastic pollution, and overexploitation of marine resources pose serious threats, here are three things you should know about global efforts to turn the tide towards a healthy ocean.

1. Progress has been made since the last UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon in 2022

While many challenges have worsened since the last conference took place in Lisbon in 2022, there has been significant progress in some areas. For example, the adoption of the historic Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (“BBNJ Agreement”) and the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies are major strides. Member States have also continued to work to implement the 2022 UN Environment Assembly resolution entitled “End Plastic Pollution: Towards an International Legally Binding Instrument.” Taken together, these achievements will help us navigate towards a healthier ocean.

2. Ocean-based solutions remain front and center

The vital role of the science-policy interface and science-based innovation in ocean action took center stage when the UN Ocean Decade Conference took place in April 2024 in Barcelona. Following this, the 4th International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) in May 2024 saw unanimous calls for the protection and sustainable use of ocean resources for SIDS. Ocean-based solutions have been integrated into discussions at the Conferences of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This built critical connections among ocean, climate change, and biodiversity and world leaders will bring these outcomes to Nice. 

3. 2025 Conference ramps up call for ocean investment

It is estimated that nearly $175 billion per year is needed to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 14 by 2030, but to date, this remains the most underinvested of all SDGs. The political declaration of the UN Ocean Conference covers a range of priorities, calling to invest in a sustainable ocean-based economy, to curb overfishing, to conclude a binding treaty addressing plastics pollution, and to advance ocean science, among others. The declaration also calls for increased ocean investment from all sources. 

Read the SDG Blog by Ambassador Peter Thomson, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean: “Why everybody should care about the state of the ocean” 

Follow efforts and the work to save our ocean: 2025 UN Ocean Conference  

Photo Credit:  François Baelen / Ocean Image Bank