ClientEarth at UNOC

It's time to turn the tide for the ocean.

The UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) will take place in Nice on 9-13 June 2025. 

The ocean covers 70% of our globe and is in crisis. The situation is bleak: marine ecosystems are failing, fish stocks are at the brink of collapse due to overfishing and illegal fishing. Plastics, chemical runoffs and industrial discharge are polluting water sources and putting the health of people and marine species at risk.

And that's not all: new threats, such as open net aquaculture and deep-sea mining are accelerating at pace, adding to the already overwhelming pressure our ocean is withstanding.

This crisis is everyone's business. And UNOC, which takes place every three years, will be one of the most important events of this decade for our ocean’s future.

We will be there to represent the interest of the Ocean and those who depend on it.

8.5%

of the ocean is protected in some way

76%

of the EU's total fleet is made up of small-scale low-impact fishers

We have the tools to secure a healthy ocean. Let’s use them.

Here's how we can turn the tide:

Enforce existing laws to save the ocean

Legal protection without effective governance and robust enforcement means little to the ocean.

Enforcement of existing laws and agreements needs to be a priority for national governments and international bodies to protect and restore the ocean, and boost the sustainable blue economy.

We ask global decision-makers to:

Enshrine global commitments in domestic legislation
Protect the high seas
Make Marine Protected Areas truly protected
Tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
Ensure due diligence in the fishing industry
Set a global moratorium on Deep-sea mining
Tackle plastic pollution

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Accelerate the transition of the fisheries sector to low impact fishing

We all need to acknowledge that a healthy ocean is not a nice-to-have but essential for life, wellbeing and the economy – and that the cost of inaction will have ripple effects across the world.

This is particularly true for the fisheries sector, given its role in supporting food security, jobs, and economic development whilst also being extremely vulnerable – in particular small-scale fishers and coastal communities – to the risks and impacts from an increasingly degraded ocean.

We're asking global decision-makers at UNOC to: