Highlights and images for 17 July 2025

2025 is a pivotal year for Ocean governance. As delegates turned to a review of Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14 – life below water), they repeatedly mentioned the recently concluded third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC 3) and the anticipated entry into force of the UN Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ). Against this backdrop, many countries took the opportunity to reconfirm their commitment to multilateral Ocean governance.  

During the opening panel, Elizabeth McLeod, Global Ocean Director, the Nature Conservancy, highlighted the financing gap, fragmented governance, and failure to empower coastal communities as key obstacles, noting that Ocean funding does not reflect the size of the Blue Economy and rising debt is keeping poor Ocean countries from making important investments.

Want to dig deeper into today's talks? Read the full Earth Negotiations Bulletin daily report.

Editrudith Lukanga, Secretary-General, African Women Fish Processors and Traders Network (AWFISHNET/WFF), urged empowering small-scale fishing communities by embedding the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in UNOC 3 follow up. She described SDGs 14, 5 (gender equality), and 8 (economic growth) as three pillars of an interdependent resilience system that must be supported as one. 

Charles Tellier, Deputy to the Special Envoy of France for UNOC 3, outlined the need for a science-policy-society interface that can connect Ocean action to the latest data, information, and knowledge and help overcome the fragmentation of Ocean and fisheries governance. 

Other issues highlighted in the discussions included the need to expand marine protected areas to meet the "30x30" Target (to protect 30% of the world’s Ocean by 2030), and ramp up action to tackle plastic pollution, heat stress, Ocean acidification, and other challenges. 

Closing the session, Moderator Kiliparti Ramakrishna, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, asked delegates to capitalize on the momentum generated at UNOC 3 in the lead up to the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference and other key upcoming meetings. 

In the afternoon, a special dialogue session with Major Groups and other Stakeholders (MGoS) convened. A broad cross-section of the 22 MGoS affiliated with the HLPF, as well as numerous Member States, engaged in a broad-ranging and vibrant discussion on the role of civil society and other non-state actors in defending human rights, advocating for inclusive development, driving SDG action, and rebuilding trust in multilateralism.

A highlight of the segment was the official launch of a comprehensive guide to supporting the participation of stakeholders in the HLPF and other related processes to advance the 2030 Agenda, co-developed by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), and MGoS. 

A final plenary segment explored progress towards SDG localization, as evidenced by the growing momentum on undertaking local and subnational reviews of the SDGs (VLRs) in parallel to the Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs).