The third UN Ocean Conference, held in Nice, France, has concluded.
From 9 to 13 June 2025, the third UN Ocean Conference was attended by 15,000 participants, including heads of state and government from 55 countries, as well as representatives from civil society, business, and the scientific community. Co-hosted by the governments of France and Costa Rica, this UN conference also featured over 450 side events. Aimed at taking urgent action to protect and sustainably use the oceans and mobilizing all stakeholders for this cause, the conference built on the momentum of previous ocean summits held in New York (2017) and Lisbon (2022).
The conference concluded with calls to expand ocean protection efforts, stop marine pollution, regulate the oceans, and open up financing for vulnerable coastal and island nations. Additionally, a joint resolution agreed upon by over 170 countries was passed, pledging urgent action to protect and sustainably use the oceans.
Some pledges and initiatives by conference participants:
French Polynesia pledged to create the world's largest marine protected area, covering its entire exclusive economic zone of approximately 5 million square kilometers (1.93 million square miles), to protect the oceans.
New Zealand pledged to spend over 52 million US dollars to enhance "ocean governance" and support management and science in the Pacific Islands region.
A 100 million euro program was launched to take urgent action to locate and clean up legacy munitions in Germany's Baltic and North Seas. This is the first program of its kind.
Indonesia, in collaboration with the World Bank and other partners, introduced a "Coral Bond" designed to mobilize private capital to protect coral reef ecosystems within Indonesia's marine protected areas.
Led by Panama and Canada, with the participation of 37 countries, the "High Ambition Coalition for a Quiet Ocean" was launched. This is the first high-level political initiative carried out globally against ocean noise pollution.
Italy pledged 6.5 million euros to strengthen coast guard surveillance in marine protected areas and oil platforms. This includes establishing a satellite surveillance system to detect potential oil spills in real-time.
Canada provided 9 million US dollars to the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance. This is assistance provided by Canada to help increase "resilience" to the impacts of climate change in Small Island Developing States and developing coastal countries.
Spain pledged to protect five new marine areas, paving the way to protect 25% of Spain's marine territory.
UN agencies and organizations initiated a collaborative design process for "One Ocean Finance". This is a bold new effort to secure billions of dollars in new financing from ocean-related industries and blue economy sectors.
The fourth UN Ocean Conference will be held in 2028. The meeting will be co-hosted by the governments of Chile and Korea.
