UN Oceans Conference: Key Issues & Impacts
- Nice, France—A United Nations initiative to protect the world's oceans is struggling to gain traction amid geopolitical tensions and meaningful funding shortfalls.
- French President Emmanuel Macron recently criticized the notion of exploiting ocean resources, declaring that the "deep sea is not for sale, neither is Greenland for sale, nor Antarctica."...
- The UN document describes the oceans as facing a "global emergency" due to rising temperatures, plastic pollution, and wildlife extinction.
The UN’s ocean action plan is struggling, facing geopolitical headwinds and a critically important funding gap. Acknowledging a “global emergency,” the plan, years in the making, aims to tackle coastal conservation, overfishing, and deep-sea mining; however, only $10 billion of the needed $175 billion has been allocated, sparking criticism from activists and officials. President Macron emphasized that the deep sea and other vulnerable areas are not for sale. The plan’s slow ratification and lack of concrete action raise serious concerns. The ocean,vital to life,generates half of the world’s oxygen. News directory 3 covers this critical story. Discover what’s next for this aspiring initiative.
UN Ocean Action Plan Faces Funding, Geopolitical Challenges
Updated June 09, 2025
Nice, France—A United Nations initiative to protect the world’s oceans is struggling to gain traction amid
geopolitical tensions and meaningful funding shortfalls. The 19-page “ocean action plan,” years in the making,
aims to address critical issues such as coastal conservation, overfishing, and deep-sea mining. Though,
activists and officials express concerns over the plan’s ambition and implementation.
French President Emmanuel Macron recently criticized the notion of exploiting ocean resources, declaring that
the “deep sea is not for sale, neither is Greenland for sale, nor Antarctica.” He also rebuked former U.S.
President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the paris Agreement on climate change.
The UN document describes the oceans as facing a “global emergency” due to rising temperatures, plastic
pollution, and wildlife extinction. Scientists warn that this crisis could severely impact human life, as oceans
produce about half of the world’s oxygen and absorb a significant portion of carbon emissions.
despite the urgency, the UN’s efforts are hampered by slow ratification and insufficient funding. Only 30
countries have ratified the new global treaty governing international waters, while at least 60 are needed for
it to take affect. Of the $175 billion needed over the next five years for major ocean controls, only $10
billion has been allocated for the next four, according to the UN.
The Nice action plan acknowledges that the ”wider geopolitical state of play represents an additional challenge
to come up with an ambitious Nice consensus.”
“There are a lot of warm words,” said Megan Randles, head of Greenpeace International’s delegation to the
Nice conference. “It recognizes that we are in a climate and ecological emergency… However, there is a
significant lack of action, even though it is called an action plan.”
Peter Thomson, the UN’s special envoy for the ocean, emphasized the severity of the situation.”We’re not
talking anymore about what might be coming,” Thomson said. “We’ve altered the earth’s system.” He urged
countries to reduce carbon emissions to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Thomson warned that future generations will inherit a world with drastically altered coastlines due to the
effects of climate change.