The third United Nations Ocean Conference will be held in Nice, France, from 9 to 13 June 2025, co-hosted by the Governments of France and Costa Rica. Li Junhua, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, serves as the Conference Secretary-General.
The overarching theme of the Conference is “Accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean”. The Conference aims to drive urgent action to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development, and further identify ways and means to support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.
The ocean plays a critical role in regulating the climate, generating oxygen, and absorbing carbon dioxide, yet it faces rising temperatures, acidification and biodiversity collapse, with over 50% of marine species at risk of extinction by 2100. The Conference will address the urgent need to protect and restore the ocean, which is increasingly degraded due to climate change, unsustainable human activities and biodiversity loss.
Taking place within the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), it will also be the first UN Ocean Conference since the adoption of the legal agreement for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity, the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework and the Agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, as well as discussions of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution.
The programme of the 2025 UN Ocean Conference will include opening and closing segments, 10 plenary sessions and 10 Ocean Action Panels. These panels will be collaborative and multistakeholder in nature and will focus on recommendations to support the implementation of SDG 14. The Conference will adopt an action oriented and inter-governmentally agreed declaration, the “Nice Ocean Action Plan”.
The Conference will build on the 2017 and 2022 ocean conferences, catalyzing action from governments, the United Nations system, intergovernmental organizations, Indigenous Peoples, financial institutions, civil society, academic institutions, youth, and more, to form partnerships towards ocean conservation and sustainable use.
Join UNEP Cartagena Convention Secretariat side-events to advance Coastal and Marine Conservation priorities in the Greater Caribbean region:
Turning The Tide: Advancing Science, Solutions, And Cooperation On The Tropical Atlantic Sargassum Situation
In the backdrop of the UN Ocean Conference 2025 in Nice, a coalition of stakeholders will host a side event addressing the Sargassum situation in the Tropical Atlantic. The event will highlight scientific advances, explore Sargassum’s ecological, economic, and harmful dimensions, and promote coordinated international responses. Sessions will cover cutting-edge monitoring and predictive tools, Sargassum’s dual role as habitat and resource, and the impacts of inundations on ecosystems, public health, and coastal economies. The event calls for enhanced collaboration and innovation to preserve marine biodiversity and support sustainable ocean-based economies.
Twenty-Fourth Global Meeting of the Regional Seas Programme
The Twenty-fourth Global Meeting of the Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans will be held in the framework of the Third UN Oceans Conference (UNOC-3), at the kind invitation of the Government of France, on 11th June 2025 in Nice, France.
Intersessional Workshop of the Sustainable Ocean Initiative Global Dialogue with Regional Seas Organizations and Regional Fishery Bodies
The Intersessional Workshop of the Sustainable Ocean Initiative Global Dialogue with Regional Seas Organizations and Regional Fishery Bodies will be held in Théoule-sur-mer, France from 7 to 8 June 2025. The meeting will start at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, 7 June 2025.
