UN Ocean Conference: What Happened and What’s Next
The third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) was held in Nice, France running from 9-13 June 2025. Here’s an overview of what happened and what’s coming next.
The UN Ocean Conference gathers the who’s who of the climate, ocean and policy communities including governments, policy makers, international NGO’s, celebrities and Heads of State from around the world.
Having established Live Ocean more than five years ago, Burling and Tuke were invited to take part and speak at multiple events within the UNOC line-up.
Halfway through the Ocean Decade – this UNOC was a critical opportunity to talk about how the world can scale up science and innovation to achieve SDG14
What is the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC)?
This UNOC was the third-ever ocean conference, gathering the who’s who of the climate, ocean and policy communities including governments, policymakers, international NGOs, and Heads of State.
Halfway through what’s been called the Ocean Decade – this UNOC was a critical opportunity to talk about how the world can accelerate and scale up science and innovation to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)#14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. Many nations used the opportunity to make policy commitments and announcements.
The overarching theme of this conference was “Accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean”.
Learn more in our UNOC101 here.
What Were The Wins?
We are Closer to Greater Protection for the High Seas
The ‘high seas’ accounts for two-thirds of the planet’s ocean and is the collective responsibility of all nations. The ‘BBNJ’ High Seas Treaty will provide greater protection and has been described as ‘a major advance for humanity.’ At UNOC we saw 19 countries ratify the treaty, bringing the total to 51. This is a major win as only 9 more ratifications are needed before it will come into force.
Deep Sea Mining Moratorium Gained Growing Support
A moratorium to pause deep sea mining and allow time to better understand precious marine ecosystems has now been backed by 37 countries and some major banks have said they’ll no longer consider financing mining projects.
French Polynesia is Creating the World’s Largest Marine Protected Area
Speaking on the first day of the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in France, President Moetai Brotherson of French Polynesia, announced the creation of the world’s largest Marine Protected Area (MPA). Encompassing the entire Exclusive Economic Zone of almost 5 million square kilometres, the commitment also includes 1.1 million square kilometres of highly or fully protected ocean.
New Bans on Bottom Trawling were Announced
The UK, Denmark, Ghana and Vanuatu all announced proposals to extend bans on bottom trawling in their waters.
Denmark is proposing to increase bottom trawling protections from the current 4,864km² to 23,000 km².The UK proposal is seeking protection for an additional 30,000km² area across 41 of the UK’s 377 Marine Protected Areas.
The World’s Largest Indigenous Led Ocean Reserve was Announced
The Governments of Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands have announced plans to set up the world’s largest indigenous led ocean reserve, with Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia ready to join the initiative.
Portugal is Increasing Marine Protection in the Azores Islands
15% of the waters around the Azores islands will be fully protected, and a significant part of the newly designated 100,000 km2 area around the Gorringe seamount will also be fully protected once its management plan is adopted.
Check out the UN website for the full summary.
What About Aotearoa New Zealand?
Minister of Foreign Affairs Rt Hon Winston Peters attended the third United Nations Ocean Conference, with a focus on ‘Pacific resilience, prosperity and security.’
While at UNOC Mr Peters referenced a commitment made in June 2024 for US$10M to the Global Fund for Coral Reefs.
However New Zealand is yet to ratify the BBNJ High Seas Treaty and made no new commitments or statements regarding the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in New Zealand.
A group of New Zealand ocean scientists gave this analysis.
What Next?
There are five years left to reach the SDG targets including SDG14 – to Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. Upcoming Climate and Biodiversity COPs, and the IUCN World Congress will be focused on achieveing SDG targets, and additionally ‘COP1 for the Ocean,’ which would follow the adoption of the BBNJ High Seas Treaty.
Next up is COP30, the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which will be held in Belém, Brazil from the 10-21 November 2025. During this climate summit, governments must take new steps to limit the climate crisis and achieve the target of a maximum of 1.5 degrees of global warming.
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