The ocean covers more than 70% of our planet. It provides food for over 3 billion people, regulates the climate, sustains global economies and is a source of cultural identity for communities around the world. But it’s also under intense and mounting pressure from climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.
It’s the ocean’s criticality that brings world leaders together for the third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice, France from June 9th-13th.
Occurring every three years, UNOC invites world leaders, civil society, businesses and scientists to mobilize partnerships, commitments and solutions to address ocean challenges. The summit plays a vital role in activating international cooperation and securing progress for ocean health and resilience.
A major outcome is the Political Declaration proposed ahead of the conference and formally adopted at its end. While not legally binding, the Political Declaration sets the tone and ambition for global ocean action. It serves as a signal to governments, investors and civil society that ocean health is a political priority, and it helps mobilize support for new initiatives.
While there are undoubtedly some gaps in a consensus-based statement like this, the ocean community has placed a great deal of expectation on UNOC to deliver significant outcomes for sustainable development, climate change and biodiversity loss. In a year filled with opportunities for the ocean, the Nice summit could help reshape how we govern and invest in our ocean, ensuring it continues to support people and the planet for generations to come.
Here are the key areas that need to be addressed for the 2025 UN Ocean Conference to serve as a turning point for the ocean:
1) Scale Up Funding for Sustainable Development Goal 14.
The ocean economy is worth an estimated $2.5 trillion annually, with an asset value of $24 trillion. Yet Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, Life Below Water, remains the most underfunded of all the SDGs, receiving less than 0.01% of all sustainable development funding. This is not an oversight, it’s a crisis.
This funding gap is holding back critical progress on marine conservation, fisheries reform, and the blue economy, where every $1 invested yields at least $5 in global benefits by 2050. Within a sustainable ocean economy, employment could grow by 51 million jobs by 2050, reaching 184 million people globally.
What’s more is that what little finance does flow to the ocean often misses the people who need it most. Finance tools should prioritize equitable access, channeling support to Indigenous and local communities, small-scale fishers, and women-led initiatives, who are often on the frontlines of ocean stewardship and the ocean’s most pressing challenges.
UNOC and its preceding event, the Blue Economy and Finance Forum, presents a critical opportunity to establish and strengthen pathways for concrete public and private financial commitments to support SDG 14. Expectations are for announcements of new and scaled-up funding from Multilateral Development Banks, governments and private sector institutions, as well as investments in innovative finance tools such as blue bonds, blended finance and ocean-focused impact funds.
In anticipation, the UN released its Ocean Investment Protocol, which provides a framework on how to unlock private capital for the sustainable ocean economy. The guide outlines how financial institutions, (re)insurers, ocean industries, governments and development finance institutions can mobilize and scale ocean finance.
2) Cement the Ocean’s Role in Fighting Climate Change.
The ocean is often overlooked in climate negotiations, yet it holds enormous potential to help limit global warming. Research from the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel) shows that ocean-based climate solutions — including offshore renewable energy, sustainable shipping, protection and restoration of “blue carbon” ecosystems like mangroves and seagrasses, and more — could deliver up to 35% of the emissions reductions needed by 2050 to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F).
Despite this, ocean-based action remains largely absent from national climate commitments. UNOC must send a clear message ahead of COP30 in Belém, Brazil: We cannot meet our climate goals without fully integrating ocean action into national and global climate strategies.
Countries should see Nice as an opportunity to commit to including ocean-based mitigation and adaptation measures in their next round of national climate plans (known as Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs), due by the end of this year. WRI published guidance on this, and there will be a series of events in Nice looking ahead to COP30.
3) Accelerate Movement on International Goals and Treaties.
The High Seas Treaty, adopted in 2023, was a historic breakthrough for ocean governance. It provides the first-ever legal framework to protect biodiversity in the high seas — the two-thirds of the ocean that lie beyond national jurisdiction.
But for the treaty to take effect, it needs to be ratified by at least 60 countries. To date, fewer than 30 have done so.
UNOC is a strategic opportunity to drive ratification, which is also critical to achieving international goals like the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to protect 30% of the ocean and land by 2030 (30×30). While the UNOC is not a formal deadline for achieving the 60 ratifications required for the High Seas Treaty to enter into force, the treaty is open for signature until September 20, 2025, with activities in Nice serving as one of the last opportunities for widespread movement on the issue. Without action on the high seas, the 30×30 target will be nearly impossible to meet.
4) Champion 100% Sustainable Ocean Management.
Management of the ocean must be as interconnected as the ocean itself. Protecting 30% is essential — but for those protections to be effective, the other 70% must be sustainably managed. This includes bringing national waters (which make up around 40% of the ocean) under holistic sustainable management. This approach has long been championed by WRI. It was included in the proposed Nice Political Declaration, but still must be formally adopted at the conference.
A growing number of nations, including Norway, Fiji and Indonesia, have or are in the middle of developing Sustainable Ocean Plans (SOPs) that reflect this vision. These plans serve as a unifying umbrella for ocean-related governance and a policy framework that facilitates holistic and sustainable use of the ocean. WRI’s 100% Alliance campaign calls on all coastal and ocean states to unite in the commitment to 100% sustainable ocean management and provide the technical and financial assistance needed to develop SOPs.
A Strong Outcome at the UN Ocean Conference Can Lay the Groundwork for Climate and Biodiversity Gains
Too often, global efforts on climate, biodiversity and the ocean operate in silos. But these crises and their solutions are deeply interconnected. A healthy ocean is essential for a stable climate, rich biodiversity and resilient coastal economies.
A strong outcome from the UN Ocean Conference can help lay the groundwork for climate and biodiversity gains through the UN Climate Conference (COP30) in November 2025 and the Biodiversity COP17 in 2026. Momentum at UNOC can help ensure that the ocean takes its place as a unifying force that helps overcome our planet’s greatest challenges.
To get there, leaders must bring urgency and ambition— linking ocean action to climate commitments, backing it with finance, and embedding it in a broader vision for resilience. A thriving, sustainable ocean economy is not just a “nice-to-have;” it’s essential for a more prosperous future where people and nature thrive.
