Recapping the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference
By: Isaiah Back-Gaal
Earlier this month, thousands of government delegations, environmental advocates, scientists, philanthropies, and businesses descended on Nice, France, for the third ever United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC). United around the conference theme, “Accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean,” a diverse group of international stakeholders debated, presented new findings, and launched campaigns to protect ocean ecosystems and the people who depend on them.
UNOC concluded with the adoption of a political declaration agreed upon by all present states, though not legally binding. While not unexpected, it was frustratingly unambitious, omitting several issues that are essential for meaningful ocean and climate action. The declaration lacked any mention of fossil fuels, despite their immediate and well documented impact on oceans. It also failed to mention climate justice or reparations for the most vulnerable countries.
Waterkeeper Alliance and Waterkeeper organizations from around the world joined partners in demanding that the declaration mention the impact of fossil fuels and that states include climate mitigation steps (such as the phase out of fossil fuels) in their plans. Waterkeeper Alliance co-hosted the only official side event to mention fossil fuels. The panel discussion, titled, “Our Ocean, Our Rights: Centering Human Rights and Communities in Achieving SDG14,” featured Mbacke Seck of Hann Baykeeper, Andurah Daxon of Waterkeepers Bahamas, an environmental minister from Costa Rica, and Astrid Puentes Riaño, UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. 
Seck and Daxon highlighted the inextricable link between ocean health and human rights for their communities, emphasizing access to good jobs, clean water, and traditional practices, as well as the harms they face from offshore oil and gas drilling. Daxon recounted the wins of the Our Islands, Our Future Campaign, and launched a new call for support as the campaign aims to win a national ban on oil drilling.
Waterkeeper Alliance joined Earth Insight in celebrating the launch of a new report, “Ocean Frontiers at Risk: Fossil Fuel Expansion Threats to Biodiversity Hotspots and Climate Stability,” published in partnership with Waterkeeper Alliance and Waterkeeper groups. At a side event at the Coral Pavillion, I spoke about how the unique risks facing Waterkeeper groups around the world from fossil fuel projects are also opportunities for solidarity and collaboration. Indeed, for environmental activists and water protectors, UNOC was an opportunity to forge new connections and strengthen bonds in the struggle to protect our one ocean: from the Wider Caribbean Network to the Global Gas and Oil Network (GGON), Waterkeeper Alliance joined activists and environmental leaders from Mexico, the Philippines, Chile, Italy, and more, to share resources, stories, and tactics towards building a fossil free world. Waterkeeper groups helped launch the #FossilFreeOcean and Fossil Free Caribe initiatives, marching with civil society partners at the Blue March in a show of solidarity before the start of the conference.
While UNOC was not a forum for launching new legally binding agreements, it was an opportunity for states to affirm political commitments to achieving their obligations under climate and ocean treaties. France and Brazil announced the “Blue NDC Challenge,” an initiative to integrate oceans into states’ NDCs – Nationally Determined Contributions, the efforts of each country to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as outlined in the Paris Agreement – with an emphasis on mitigation measures, and the countries committed to ensuring that COP30 has a special focus on oceans. 50 countries ratified the BBNJ, also called the High Seas Treaty, an agreement to protect waters outside of national jurisdictions, with the final 10 countries required to activate the treaty expected by September. Additionally, at least 95 nations supported a stronger call to move towards a Global Plastics Treaty at the August negotiations in Geneva.
The next UN Ocean Conference will be held in Korea in 2028. Before then, the Bonn climate week and COP30 in Brazil are platforms to continue the momentum for a fossil free future.
As Andurah Daxon said in her speech at the UNOC side event, “We don’t need saving. We need solidarity. We don’t need charity. We need justice. And if we work together we can create an ocean future that’s not only sustainable, but fair, inclusive, and alive for generations to come.”