The third United Nations Ocean Conference will be held in Nice, France, from 9 to 13 June 2025,
co-hosted by the Governments of France and Costa Rica. Li Junhua, Under-Secretary-General for
Economic and Social Affairs at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, serves as the
Conference Secretary-General.
The overarching theme of the Conference is “Accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to
conserve and sustainably use the ocean”. The Conference aims to drive urgent action to conserve
and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development, and
further identify ways and means to support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal

(SDG) 14.
The ocean plays a critical role in regulating the climate, generating oxygen, and absorbing carbon
dioxide, yet it faces rising temperatures, acidification and biodiversity collapse, with over 50% of
marine species at risk of extinction by 2100. The Conference will address the urgent need to
protect and restore the ocean, which is increasingly degraded due to climate change,
unsustainable human activities and biodiversity loss.
Taking place within the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), it
will also be the first UN Ocean Conference since the adoption of the legal agreement for the
conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity, the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity
Framework and the Agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, as
well as discussions of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution.

The programme of the 2025 UN Ocean Conference will include opening and closing segments, 10
plenary sessions and 10 Ocean Action Panels. These panels will be collaborative and multistakeholder in nature and will focus on recommendations to support the implementation of SDG

14. The Conference will adopt an action oriented and inter-governmentally agreed declaration, the
    “Nice Ocean Action Plan”.
    The Conference will build on the 2017 and 2022 ocean conferences, catalyzing action from
    governments, the United Nations system, intergovernmental organizations, Indigenous Peoples,
    financial institutions, civil society, academic institutions, youth, and more, to form partnerships
    towards ocean conservation and sustainable use.
    United Nations Department of Global Communications 2025
    The Conference will also emphasize the interconnectedness and contributions of ocean action to
    other SDGs, and potential avenues for strengthened implementation, as evidenced by the 10
    Ocean Action Panel themes:
    • Ocean Action Panel 1: Conserving, sustainably managing and restoring marine and coastal
    ecosystems including deep-sea ecosystems.
    • Ocean Action Panel 2: Increasing ocean-related scientific cooperation, knowledge,
    capacity building, marine technology and education to strengthen the science-policy
    interface for ocean health.
    • Ocean Action Panel 3: Mobilizing finance for ocean actions in the support of SDG14.
    • Ocean Action Panel 4: Preventing and significantly reducing marine pollution of all kinds, in
    particular from land-based activities.
    • Ocean Action Panel 5: Fostering sustainable fisheries management including supporting
    small-scale fishers.
    • Ocean Action Panel 6: Advancing sustainable ocean-based economies, sustainable
    maritime transport and coastal community resilience leaving no one behind.
    • Ocean Action Panel 7: Leveraging ocean, climate and biodiversity interlinkages.
    • Ocean Action Panel 8: Promoting and supporting all forms of cooperation, especially at the
    regional and sub regional level.
    • Ocean Action Panel 9: Promoting the role of sustainable food from the ocean for poverty
    eradication and food security.
    • Ocean Action Panel 10: Enhancing the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and
    their resources by implementing international law as reflected in the UNCLOS.