The “United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”; UNOC 2025 will be co-hosted by the governments of France and Costa Rica [1]. Scheduled for Nice, France, from 9 to 13 June 2025, the conference will bring together Heads of State and Government, UN agencies, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, scientists, private sector representatives, philanthropic organizations, indigenous peoples, and local communities [1]. The overarching theme, “Accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean,” underscores the urgency of the situation [1,6,8].
Oceans face a polycrisis: an estimated 5-12 million tonnes of plastic enter annually, and only 62.3% of global fish stocks are sustainably managed [3,4,7]. Moreover, 60% of marine ecosystems are degraded, with over 50% of marine species potentially facing extinction by 2100.
The Nice Ocean Agreement may serve as an ocean counterpart to the Paris Climate Agreement, establishing a framework that brings together the scientific community to inform and guide the ocean-related actions of Heads of States and Government, much like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) does for climate change, thereby providing a structured foundation for global ocean governance [11].
How Does UNOC 2025 Aim to Drive Change?
The conference structure is designed to foster dialogue and lead to concrete outcomes. It will include plenary sessions and ten multi-stakeholder “Ocean Action Panels.” These panels will address themes such as conserving marine ecosystems, fostering sustainable fisheries, preventing marine pollution, mobilizing finance, leveraging ocean-climate-biodiversity interlinkages, and implementing international law like UNCLOS [2,6].
The primary expected outcomes are twofold [2] :
1. An Action Plan: The “Nice Ocean Action Plan,” comprising a political declaration and a list of voluntary commitments from all stakeholders. Conference materials emphasize that this Plan will be structured to address three main priorities [8,9] :
– Priority 1: Working towards completion of multilateral processes linked to the ocean
– Priority 2: Mobilizing finance resources for the SDG14 and supporting the development of a sustainable blue economy
– Priority 3: Strengthen and better disseminate knowledge linked to marine sciences to enhance policy-making
2. A Public Declaration: The “Nice Ocean Action Declaration,” a political statement currently being negotiated by UN member states, with Australia and Cape Verde co-facilitating the process. A draft was issued in late 2024, aiming for consensus by May 2025.
Three core priorities will guide the discussions: completing ongoing multilateral ocean-related processes; mobilizing sufficient finance for SDG14 and a sustainable blue economy; and strengthening the dissemination of marine science to inform policy [5,8,9]. Several pre-conference events, including the One Ocean Science Congress and the Blue Economy and Finance Forum, will help build momentum [2,5].
Key technical challenges will include accelerating High Seas Treaty ratification to protect biodiversity in areas covering nearly half the planet’s surface, decarbonizing the shipping industry responsible for 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, addressing ocean acidification through emissions reduction strategies, and strengthening the science-policy interface [10].
Evolution From Previous Conferences
UNOC 2025 builds strategically upon foundations laid in 2017 and 2022, marking only the third iteration of this relatively young international conference — in contrast to more established frameworks like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) which have decades of precedent [1]. The inaugural 2017 New York conference, co-hosted by Sweden and Fiji, established the voluntary commitments framework. The 2022 Lisbon summit, organized by Portugal and Kenya, shifted focus toward science-policy integration and produced the “Lisbon Declaration”, emphasizing ocean-climate linkages. This nascent status of the UN Ocean Conference series underscores both the growing recognition of ocean governance as a distinct policy domain and the urgent need to rapidly mature international ocean cooperation mechanisms.
The 2025 conference is comes at a critical point, as it represents the first major ocean summit since the adoption of several landmark agreements including the High Seas Treaty (BBNJ Agreement), the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (committing to protect 30% of oceans by 2030), and ongoing global plastic pollution treaty negotiations.
This shift from negotiating new frameworks to operationalizing existing commitments positions UNOC 2025 as a critical test of whether the international community can translate ambitious ocean governance agreements into tangible action [6].
Looking Toward 2030 and Beyond
As the SDG framework approaches its 2030 conclusion, UNOC 2025 could establish foundations for post-2030 ocean governance.
Despite this progress, persistent challenges remain across all three conferences. SDG 14 continues as one of the least funded Sustainable Development Goals [7], while implementation of previous commitments shows mixed results. The consensus-driven nature of UN processes often dilutes ambitious targets, presenting ongoing diplomatic challenges.
The consensus-driven nature of UN processes often dilutes ambitious targets and excludes contentious issues entirely — exemplified by the 2025 conference’s draft declaration omitting any reference to deep-sea mining due to lack of consensus, even as the U.S. considers expanding seabed mineral extraction operations [12].
Future ocean governance will likely grapple with emerging challenges, including deep-sea mining regulation, marine geoengineering proposals, and ocean-based climate solutions. The intersection of artificial intelligence with ocean monitoring may reshape scientific cooperation, while growing recognition of indigenous knowledge systems could transform marine conservation approaches [13, 14].
