Africa-Press – Ethiopia. The high-level 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference, aimed at supporting the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14—conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources, opens today in Nice, France.
Co-hosted by the Governments of France and Costa Rica, a four-day conference opened with strong calls to accelerate action and mobilize all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean, it was learned.
“I urge all countries to come forward with bold pledges,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in his opening remarks to the Conference this morning.
“We live in an age of turmoil, but the resolve I see here gives me hope,” he said. “Hope that we can turn the tide,” he added.
President Emmanuel Macron of France, also addressing the opening ceremony, said, “we need to revitalize multilateralism behind the UN Secretary General,” adding that, “the only way to meet that challenge, is to mobilize all actors, heads of state and government speaking here, but also scientists.”
President Rodrigo Chaves Robles of Costa Rica stated that “this summit must be remembered as the time when the world understood that looking after the ocean is not simply an option.
Rather, it is a moral, economic, and indeed we need minimum protection.”
Bringing together world leaders, scientists, private sector representatives, civil society, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, the high-level gathering underscores the ocean’s vital role in regulating the climate, sustaining food security and livelihoods, and preserving biodiversity.
The ocean is under growing pressure from climate change and human activity, with record heat severely impacting marine life, and escalating threats from pollution, overfishing and biodiversity loss pushing marine ecosystems to the brink.
The Conference is expected to adopt an intergovernmentally negotiated political declaration, which, along with a registry of voluntary commitments from across sectors, will be referred to as the Nice Ocean Action Plan – outcomes aimed at catalyzing urgent, inclusive, and science-based action to safeguard the ocean for present and future generations.
“The time for incremental progress is over. We need billions, not millions, in investment. We need binding commitments that survive political transitions and economic pressures,” United Nations Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua, the Conference Secretary-General said at the opening.
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