Highlights and images for 10 June 2025

“The Ocean is living capital. When we invest in its health, we invest in our own.” “Progress toward preventing and reducing marine pollution has been marginal, and significant acceleration of global efforts is urgently required.”

The two quotes by Karen Sack, Executive Director, Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA) and Charles Goddard, Editorial Director, The Economist Group, moderators of the two Ocean Action Panels that convened during the day, captured the focus of the second day of deliberations at the third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3). Discussions in the Ocean Action Panels focused on mobilizing finance for Ocean actions in support of Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14, life below water) and on preventing and significantly reducing marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities.

Throughout the day, general debate continued in plenary with more than 50 high-level delegates presenting national efforts toward sustainable Ocean governance, reaffirming their commitment to a healthy Ocean. The full set of statements can be found here: https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k15/k15im09ki7, https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1y/k1y10msnw6

Co-chaired by Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Jamaica, and Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson, Minister of the Environment, Energy and Climate, Iceland, the morning’s Ocean Action Panel highlighted the critical importance of closing the finance gap to achieve SDG 14.

Johnson Smith urged sharing best practices, data, knowledge, and expertise to identify challenges and opportunities in deploying innovative forms of financial mobilization. Jóhannsson underscored that, in addition to increasing financial flows, redirecting finance away from harmful subsidies and toward sustainability, ensuring that “no one is left behind” is equally important.

Participants, among other things:

• stressed the need to address the fragmented funding landscape, calling for rationalization and consolidation of the international financial architecture and the establishment of a dedicated global Ocean financing mechanism, with some highlighting the One Ocean Finance Facility;
• drew attention to innovative tools such as blue bonds, debt for nature swaps, blue carbon credits, and parametric insurance; and
• urged attending to implementation and capacity gaps for developing countries, in particular small island developing states (SIDS), including through simplified approval processes, carefully designed eligibility criteria, and modalities for direct access removing administrative and procedural barriers.

Devoted to actions that can contribute to meaningfully addressing marine pollution, the afternoon’s Ocean Action Panel was co-chaired by Messouda Mint Baham Ould Mohamed Laghdhaf, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Mauritania, and Carsten Schneider, Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Climate Protection and Nuclear Safety, Germany.

In opening remarks, Schneider stressed the need for an ambitious plastics treaty and highlighted action for the recovery and clearance of legacy munitions. Laghdhaf emphasized ongoing deliberations for the establishment of a global science-policy panel to contribute further to the sound management of chemicals and waste and to prevent pollution.

Stressing that “countries are working hard to get to the finish line,” Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme (UNEP), expressed optimism regarding the conclusion of negotiations for a plastics treaty, and highlighted progress made in other areas, including through various international conventions on pollution control.

During discussions, delegates and participants highlighted the importance of reaching consensus on a plastics treaty addressing the entire lifecycle of plastics, emphasizing that it will constitute “a win for multilateralism, the environment, and human health”. They further underscored, among other things:

• the need for a collective approach and transboundary cooperation, stressing that pollution knows no borders;
• national and regional efforts concerning waste management and pollution control; and
• the need for greater international cooperation, technology transfer, capacity building, shared monitoring systems, and predictable financing to support developing countries, in particular SIDS, in operationalizing a circular economy and tackling marine pollution.