United Nations Ocean Conference to convene June 2025 in Nice, France

The high-level 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference will be held in Nice, France, from 9 – 13 June 2025, to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

The conference to support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14 will be co-hosted by France and Costa Rica, with an overarching theme: “Accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean”.

The Conference will involve all relevant stakeholders, including, international financial institutions, international bodies, non-indigenous peoples and local communities to assess challenges and opportunities relating to, as well as actions taken towards, the implementation of Goal 14.

The Conference will build on the previous UN Ocean Conferences, hosted by Sweden and Fiji in 2017 in New York and by Portugal and Kenya in 2022 in Lisbon.

About Sustainable Development Goal 14

Goal 14 is about conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources. Healthy oceans and seas are essential to human existence and life on Earth.

The Ocean is intrinsic to our life on earth. Covering three-quarters of the Earth’s surface, contain 97 percent of the Earth’s water, and represent 99 percent of the living space on the planet by volume.

Worryingly, marine pollution is reaching extreme levels, with over 17 million metric tons clogging the ocean in 2021, a figure set to double or triple by 2040. Plastic is the most harmful type of ocean pollution.

Currently, the ocean’s average pH is 8.1 which is about 30 per cent more acidic than in pre- industrial times. Ocean acidification threatens the survival of marine life, disrupts the food web, and undermines vital services provided by the ocean and our own food security.

Challanges to achieve Goal 14

The ocean absorbs around 23 per cent of annual CO2 emissions generated by human activity and helps mitigate the impacts of climate change.

The ocean has also absorbed more than 90% of the excess heat in the climate system. Ocean heat is at record levels, causing widespread marine heatwaves, threatening its rich eco-systems and killing coral reefs around the world.

Increasing levels of debris in the world’s oceans are also having a major environmental and economic impact. Every year, an estimated 5 to 12 million metric tonnes of plastic enters the ocean, costing roughly $13 billion per year – including clean-up costs and financial losses in fisheries and other industries. About 89% of plastic litter found on the ocean floor are single-use items like plastic bags.