UN ocean conference held at Nice, France with delegations from countries worldwide attending, has witnessed praiseworthy development in protecting seas and its species. The conference was five days long starting from 9 June to 13 June, trying to derive solutions amid rampant losses of the sea species.
Addressing the threats world’s seas confront on multiple fronts from plastic pollution to climate change was the main purpose of this widely talked about conference. It brought together almost 200 countries across the world.
UN Ocean conference shows concrete success as more countries are ratifying vital treaty to protect marine life and showing eagerness to control all forms of ocean pollution ranging from plastic to illegal fishing.
The High Seas Treaty, which aims to place 30% of the ocean into protected areas, was ratified by 60 countries.
Various ocean pollution which had long been neglected by many countries are being discussed wholeheartedly and it is offering light. Countries have come to agreement to work together while fighting pollution.
Tony Long, Chief Executive Officer of Global Fishing Watch, expressed that UNOC has given us a glimmer of hope. The challenges that the oceans face are being seen and heard. Hopefully, these will be tackled. (BBC World)
Before the UN Ocean Conference, confidence seen very low in addressing the world’s most urgent challenges. In 2024, key negotiations on biodiversity, plastics, and climate made no noticeable progress. The goal of the conference was not to sign a new legally binding agreement, but rather to advance the implementation of existing treaties.
Three years ago, countries committed to protecting 30% of land and sea by 2030 to support global biodiversity efforts.
Achieving this target in international waters is particularly difficult, as no single nation has jurisdiction over these areas. To address this, countries signed the High Seas Treaty in 2023, agreeing to designate 30% of these waters as marine protected areas.
Although major nations, including the US and China, are signatories , they have not yet ratified the treaty. Meanwhile, Russia, which has steadily opposed the treaty due to apprehensions about its impact on fisheries, stated on Friday that it will keep its position.
More countries also promised to designate parts of their national waters as marine protected areas (MPAs) and to limit the most harmful fishing practices.
During the week, the UK announced plans to ban bottom trawling in nearly a third of English MPAs—a move long pushed by environmental charities and, more recently, by Sir David Attenborough. Advocates claim that without such bans, the protections exist only on paper.
In a major step forward, French Polynesia launched the world’s largest-ever marine protected area within its own waters. Of that area, 900,000 square kilometers—four times the size of the UK—will be closed to extractive fishing and mining.
With this and other commitments made during the conference, 10% of the world’s oceans are now under some form of protection. However, global progress on curbing destructive fishing practices has been limited, largely due to the absence of participation from China, which operates the world’s largest fishing fleet.
That changed at the conference, as China announced it had ratified the Port State Measures Agreement—a legally binding treaty aimed at eliminating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
While the conference did not result in any new pledges to cut emissions, developing nations used the platform to urge wealthier countries to hasten the release of previously promised climate finance.
