“We are closing this historic week not only with hope, but with a concrete commitment, a clear direction and an undeniable impulse,” said Li Junhua, under-secretary general of the United Nations for economic and social affairs and the secretary general of the summit.
Co-organized by France and Costa Rica, the five-day event brought 15,000 participants, including more than 60 heads of state and government, on the Mediterranean coast of France.
With more than 450 secondary events and nearly 100,000 visitors, the rally, nicknamed UNOC3built on the momentum of the previous ocean peaks in new York (2017) and Lisbon (2022). He resulted in a shared call to extend maritime protection, brake pollution, regulate the high seas and release the financing of vulnerable coastal and island nations.
Li Junhua, United Nations Subsecrétaire General for Economic and Social Affairs and Secretary General of UNOC3, during the closing press conference in Nice.
Ambitious commitments
The result of the conference, known as Beautiful ocean action planis a two -part executive which includes a political declaration and more than 800 voluntary commitments by governments, scientists, United Nations agencies and civil society since the previous conference.
“These range from young people to ecosystem literacy in high seas, capacity building in science and innovation and undertakes to ratify intergovernmental treaties,” said Mr. LI.
The promises revealed this week reflected the extent of the ocean crisis. The European Commission announced an investment of 1 billion euros To support the conservation of the oceans, science and sustainable fishing, while French Polynesia is committed to creating the largest protected marine zone in the worldEnclosing its entire exclusive economic zone – around five million square kilometers.
Germany has launched a Program of 100 million euros to remove underwater ammunition Baltic and northern seas. Furthermore, New Zealand has hired $ 52 million to strengthen ocean governance in the Pacific, and Spain has announced five new protected marine areas.
A coalition of 37 countries led by Panama and Canada launched the High ambition coalition for a calm ocean To combat underwater pollution. Meanwhile, Indonesia and the World Bank have introduced an “coral obligation” to help finance the conservation of reefs in the country.
“The waves of change have been formed,” said Mr. Li. “It is now our collective responsibility to propel them forward – for our people, our planet and future generations.”
Olivier Poivre d’Arvor (right), special envoy of France for the conference, during the closing press conference of UNOC3, in Nice.
A diplomatic scene
The summit opened on Monday with Austere warnings. “We do not treat the ocean as what it is – the ultimate global commons,” said the UN Secretary General António GuterresAlongside the presidents of France and the Costa Rica, Emmanuel Macron and Rodrigo Chaves Robles, who called for a renewed multilateralism anchored in science.
Friday, France’s special envoy for the conference, Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, recalled the challenges: “We wanted Nice … to take a chance on a transformer change. I think we have advanced, but we can’t go back. »»
One of the main objectives of the conference was to accelerate progress High seas treaty – known as the BBNJ agreement – Adopted in 2023 to protect marine life in international waters. Sixty ratifications are necessary for it to come into force. During last week, 19 countries ratified the agreement, bringing the total number as for Friday, 50.
“This is an important victory,” said Poivre d’Arvor. “It is very difficult to work on the ocean right now when the United States is so little involved.”
The French envoy alluded to the absence of a senior American delegation, as well as to a recent decree of President Donald Trump, advancing deep exploitation. “The abyss is not for sale,” he said, echoing the remarks made earlier in the week by President Macron.
However, Mr. Poivre d’Arvor underlined the wide agreement concluded at the top. “A country can be missing,” he said. “But 92% of” co -owners “were present today in Nice.”
His counterpart, Arnoldo André-Tinoco, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica, urged other nations to accelerate the financing of ocean protection. “Each commitment must be held responsible,” he said during the closing meeting of the conference.
Peter Thomson, the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General for the Ocean, talks to the news of the UN.
Momentum – and a test
For Peter Thomson, the UN special envoy for the ocean, Nice marked a turning point. “This is not so much what is happening at the conference, that’s what happens later,” he said UN Newsrecalling the first days of ocean plea during the target of sustainable development 14 (SDG14), On life underwater, was established for the first time.
“From the desert in which we were in 2015 … where we are now, where you see this incredible commitment.”
For the future, attention already turns to the fourth conference of the United Nations Ocean, planned to be co-organized by Chile and South Korea in 2028.
“We will again see a big push up here,” predicted Mr. Thomson. He expressed hope that the main global agreements – including the BBNJ treaty, the subsidy agreement for WTO peaches and the future world plastics treaty – will all be ratified and implemented by then.
The 2028 summit will also mark a calculation moment, while SDG 14 approaches its 2030 objective.
“What are we doing when SDG 14 matures in 2030?” Mr. Thomson asked. “Obviously, this must be raised from ambition. It must be stronger. He stressed that if SDG14 had aimed to protect 10% of the ocean by 2020 – a target that the world has not reached – the new reference is 30% by 2030.
Wearing a shell collar offered by the Marshall Islands, the Native of Fiji congratulated the small island nations and the Atoll collectives for having fixed ambitious marine protections.
“If small countries can make great measures like that, why can’t the big countries follow suit?” He said.
He also praised the 2,000 scientists who met for the One Ocean Science Congress before the summit. “What a great way to manage things,” he said.
A unit demonstration
Despite the festive tone, the tensions lingered. Small island in development of states pushed to a stronger language Loss and damage -The damage inflicted by climate change that goes beyond what people can adapt. “You cannot have an ocean declaration without SMSN,” warned a delegate earlier this week.
Others, including President Chaves, from Costa Rica, called for a moratorium on the exploitation of the deep sea in international waters until science can assess risks – a step not included in the final declaration.
However, the political declaration adopted in Nice, entitled Our ocean, our future: United for urgent actionreaffirms the objective of protecting 30% of the ocean and the land by 2030, while supporting world executives as the Kunming-Montreal biodiversity agreement (Adopted in 2022, hiring countries to stop and reverse the loss of nature by 2030 through ambitious conservation targets and sustainable biodiversity management) and the UN International Maritime OrganizationClimatic objectives (IMO).
“The real test,” said Mr. Li, “is not what we said here in Nice – but what we do next. »»
While the sun plunged behind the Promenade des Anglais and the final plenary of the adjourned conference, the sea – old, vital and in danger – was silent of a fragile but shared promise.
