Stakeholders worldwide are invited by UN DESA, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, to contribute inputs to the 2025 UN Ocean Conference Declaration.
Inputs will address the following:
“Up to three key actions that focus on areas of accelerated and collective action to support the implementation of SDG 14 and that could be considered by Member States for inclusion in the 2025 UN Ocean Conference Declaration.”
Submissions are open to civil society, academic institutions, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, philanthropic organisations, the private sector, and other stakeholders, offering another opportunity to influence global commitments in support of Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14): Life below Water.
Once compiled by UN DESA, responses will be shared with the co-facilitators and published online on the official conference website as appropriate.
About the 2025 UN Ocean Conference
The 2025 high-level UN Ocean Conference, co-hosted by France and Costa Rica, will take place from 9–13 June 2025 in Nice, France, under the theme Accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean. The conference will address challenges critical to ocean health, focusing on collaboration and innovative solutions to advance SDG 14.
Conference program will include an opening session, 10 Plenary Sessions, 10 Ocean Action Panels, and a closing session.
These sessions are meant to to support urgent action to conserve and sustainably use the ocean, seas, and marine resources while identifying ways to strengthen cooperation, build on successful partnerships, and stimulate innovative and concrete new solutions.
Themes of the Ocean Action Panels:
- Ocean Action Panel 1: Conserving, sustainably managing, and restoring marine and coastal ecosystems, including deep-sea ecosystems.
- Ocean Action Panel 2: Increasing ocean-related scientific cooperation, knowledge, capacity building, marine technology, and education.
- Ocean Action Panel 3: Mobilizing finance for ocean actions to support SDG 14.
- Ocean Action Panel 4: Preventing and significantly reducing marine pollution, particularly from land-based activities.
- Ocean Action Panel 5: Fostering sustainable fisheries management, including support for small-scale fishers.
- Ocean Action Panel 6: Advancing sustainable ocean-based economies and coastal community resilience, leaving no one behind.
- Ocean Action Panel 7: Leveraging interlinkages between ocean, climate, and biodiversity.
- Ocean Action Panel 8: Promoting and supporting all forms of cooperation, especially at regional and subregional levels.
- Ocean Action Panel 9: Promoting the role of sustainable food from the ocean for poverty eradication and food security.
- Ocean Action Panel 10: Enhancing the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources through international law, including UNCLOS.
The panels will each be chaired by two Heads of State or Government, yet to be appointed. To ensure comprehensive input, the Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives to the UN of Cabo Verde and Australia have been appointed by the President of the United Nations General Assembly as co-facilitators to lead the intergovernmental consultations on the declaration, to be concluded by 1 May 2025.
The Nice Ocean Action Plan
The Nice conference will culminate with the adoption of the Nice Ocean Action Plan, a concise, action-oriented, and intergovernmentally agreed declaration. The plan is that, supported by a list of voluntary commitments, the declaration will guide global efforts to implement SDG 14.
Background to the Panels
- 2 July 2024: A preparatory meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York, led by France and Costa Rica, outlined the conference’s themes and structure.
- Global Stakeholder Consultation: More than 400 contributions from 90 countries informed the Ocean Action Panels’ concept papers, addressing challenges, opportunities, and potential partnerships. All inputs to each panel can be found here .
June 2025 Timeline
In the lead-up to the conference, a series of key events will pave the way for action:
- 4–6 June: One Ocean Science Congress, Nice.
- 6–8 June: Blue Economy and Finance Forum, Monaco.
- 7 June: Coastal Cities Forum, addressing climate impacts, Nice.
- 8 June: Civil Society “Peoples of the Sea” Day, Nice.
Accelerating Ocean Action: Contributions from Let’s Be Nice to the Ocean
The Let’s Be Nice to the Ocean has submitted three key actions to the 2025 UN Ocean Conference Declaration, emphasising the urgency of reversing environmental degradation and fostering international cooperation:
Action 1
Proposal: The Nice Ocean Action Plan forms an Ad-Hoc Group to develop modalities for implementing the Protection Principle (explicitly reversing the burden of proof to extracting & polluting industries). The Ad-Hoc Group will report in 2027, one year before UNOC4.
See summary in IISD’s SDG Knowledge Hub, and full publication.
Theme: Enhancing conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources by implementing international law as reflected in UNCLOS.
Action 2
Proposal: Nice Ocean Action Plan to support moratorium or precautionary pause on deep-sea mining and measures to prohibit deep-sea bottom trawling.
Read op-ed published in Le Monde by Varda Group & Tara Ocean Foundation Directors (in French).
Theme: Conserving, sustainably managing, and restoring marine and coastal ecosystems, including deep-sea ecosystems.
Action 3
Proposal: Nice Ocean Action Plan to call for High-Level Antarctic Life Summit to seek a resolution of the deadlock whereby the designation of Marine Protected Areas in the Southern Ocean failed since 2017.
See details in the Let’s Be Nice to the Ocean original booklet (pages 67-70).
Theme: Promoting and supporting all forms of cooperation, especially at regional and subregional levels.
Stakeholders are encouraged to align their submissions with actionable and impactful goals, like those submitted by Let’s Be Nice to the Ocean.
Make your voice heard: Submit your input
Stakeholders are encouraged to submit their insights on challenges, transformative actions, and partnership opportunities to support SDG 14.
The deadline for submissions is 29 November 2024.