The Assembly adopted by consensus the draft resolution “2025 United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”, deciding to convene the next UN Ocean Conference in France, in June 2025.
Officially entitled the United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development, the next UN Ocean Conference will take place in France, in June 2025, co-hosted by the Governments of Costa Rica and France.
The draft resolution (Document A/77/L.40) decided that all Conference costs, including its preparations, shall be financed through extrabudgetary resources, and welcomed the generous offer by the co-hosting Governments to assume the Conference’s costs.
Introducing the draft, the representative of Costa Rica said the ocean faces a continued emergency of escalating challenges and that Sustainable Development Goal 14 remains the most underfunded of all global goals. It is estimated that an additional $175 billion will be needed each year until 2030, for the global goal’s full implementation.
“In the meantime, sea levels are rising and coastal erosion is worsening, impacting the lives, livelihoods and culture of many island nations and coastal communities,” she said. “The current situation is beyond alarming,” she added, urging the international community to build on momentum achieved during the first and second Ocean Conferences to achieve global Goal 14.
The Conference in France in June 2025 will be preceded by a high-level themed event in Costa Rica in June 2024.
Continuing, she said the Conference will provide a platform for reviewing progress on key processes that need high-level political will and engagement.
This includes the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), which mobilised major support and commitments from Heads of State during its 2022 edition in Lisbon, Portugal, earlier this year.
Proclaimed in 2017 by the United Nations General Assembly, the Ocean Decade 2021-2030 seeks to stimulate ocean science and knowledge generation to reverse the decline of the state of the ocean system and catalyse new opportunities for sustainable development of this massive marine ecosystem. The vision of the Ocean Decade is ‘the science we need for the ocean we want’. The Ocean Decade provides a convening framework for scientists and stakeholders from diverse sectors to develop the scientific knowledge and the partnerships needed to accelerate and harness advances in ocean science to achieve a better understanding of the ocean system, and deliver science-based solutions to achieve the 2030 Agenda. The UN General Assembly mandated UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) to coordinate the preparations and implementation of the Decade.
The conference will also review instruments on plastic pollution and biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction; discussions around deep sea mining; and the recent commitments from more than 100 States to protect at least 30 per cent of marine areas by 2030.
This article has been adapted from the original release: https://press.un.org/en/2022/ga12485.doc.htm
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About the IOC-UNESCO:
The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO) promotes international cooperation in marine sciences to improve management of the ocean, coasts and marine resources. The IOC enables its 150 Member States to work together by coordinating programmes in capacity development, ocean observations and services, ocean science and tsunami warning. The work of the IOC contributes to the mission of UNESCO to promote the advancement of science and its applications to develop knowledge and capacity, key to economic and social progress, the basis of peace and sustainable development.