Highlights and images for 12 June 2025

“The Ocean does not recognize institutional boundaries and neither should our solutions.” “Cooperation at all levels is not just a development strategy but an imperative for survival and sustainable progress.”

The words of Maria Varteressian, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Norway, and Rabab Fatima, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), highlighted the focus of discussions during the Ocean Action Panels held over the course of the penultimate day of the third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3).

Fragmented governance across Ocean, biodiversity, climate, water, food, and health frameworks leads to conflicting objectives and inefficiencies, limiting capacities to tackle cascading environmental impacts. Institutional and policy coherence and international, regional, and subregional cooperation are thus of paramount importance for a holistic framework for Ocean governance.

In the morning, delegates concluded the general debate with more than 45 high-level delegates offering an overview of Ocean-related initiatives at the national and regional levels. The full set of statements of the last session can be found here: https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1z/k1zhnlqy7h.

The morning Ocean Action Panel, co-chaired by Jean-Luc Crucke, Minister of Mobility, Climate and Ecological Transition, in charge of Sustainable Development, Belgium, and Arif Havas Oegroseno, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Indonesia, and moderated by Susan Gardner, Director, Ecosystems Division, UN Environment Programme (UNEP), focused on Ocean, climate, and biodiversity interlinkages.

Crucke highlighted targets set by the global community in different legally binding instruments, underscored the need to develop indicators on adaptation, and pointed to the Ocean and climate change dialogue 2025 under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Oegroseno drew attention to the Ocean Impact Summit, to be hosted by Indonesia in June 2026, and urged developing innovative technological solutions and financial models, noting the launch of the Coral Bond Initiative.

Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), highlighted relevant targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and cautioned that the achievement of global targets depends on states raising their ambition at the national level.

Panelists and participants stressed, among other things:

• ambitious climate, biodiversity, and Ocean actions are complementary rather than competing priorities, emphasizing the need for policy and institutional coherence;
• the co-benefits of redesigning shipping vessels in a holistic manner, jointly addressing underwater noise from ships, energy efficiency, and biofouling;
• the need to address fragmented financial flows and tap into innovative mechanisms; and
• the need to respect Indigenous, traditional, and local knowledge systems, linking them with modern science.

The afternoon Ocean Action Panel, co-chaired by Leila Benali, Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Morocco, and Claudio Barbaro, Undersecretary of State to the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, Italy, and moderated by Cynthia Barzuna, Global Deputy Director, Ocean Program, World Resources Institute, focused on promoting cooperation, in particular at the regional and subregional levels.

Benali emphasized that while “global frameworks and regional actions chart a course forward, progress remains dangerously slow.” Benali further called to: “democratize knowledge, breaking barriers between data, science, and action”; and foster scalable solutions and partnerships that convert vulnerability to strength.

Barbaro highlighted the key role of regional seas conventions, which facilitate the implementation of global goals at the national level, drawing attention to the Barcelona Convention, in particular its Information and Communication Centre. 

Wesley W. Simina, President of the Federated States of Micronesia, focused on the five tuna commissions and underscored: the need for effective monitoring, control, and surveillance; and that climate change is reshaping tuna distributions, rendering fixed static quotas and boundaries insufficient.

During discussions, participants underscored, among other things:

• the efforts and success stories of regional and subregional conventions, bodies, and initiatives, including regional seas bodies and regional fisheries management organizations across the globe;
• the importance of data sharing, strengthening and harmonizing policy frameworks, capacity building, and technology transfer to bridge capacity gaps, in particular for developing countries and SIDS;
• the need to foster solidarity, including by promoting responsible investment and facilitating access to climate finance; and
• Indigenous and local communities’ participation in designing and implementing regional initiatives.