UNOC 2025 Day One: From Global Declarations to Grassroots Action

Nice, France | June 9, 2025

Day one of the UN Ocean Conference 2025 began with urgency and ended with optimism. From high-level commitments to grassroots innovation, the message was clear: the ocean must move from the sidelines to the center of global action.

🌍 A Global Call for Ocean Protection

Co-chairs French President Emmanuel Macron and Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves opened the conference with a bold call to action. Macron spoke of the ocean as a shared ecosystem that demands global stewardship, highlighting the High Seas Treaty and calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining. “The ocean is not for sale,” he declared, echoing a broader plea to move beyond inertia. Chaves reinforced the ocean’s role at the core of both environmental and social struggles, framing ocean protection as a moral and economic necessity.

💬 But did President Macron meet the moment? Many ocean advocates say no. After months of public campaigning and expert support, one demand stood out:

🌊 Ban bottom trawling in marine protected areas.

Yet when Macron spoke, he offered no such commitment. Instead, the French government proposed increasing “strong” protection to just 4% by 2026, without a clear ban on destructive industrial fishing in its so-called protected waters. This isn't enough for the ocean, the climate, small-scale fishers, or future generations. The next 24 hours are critical. Civil society is urging stronger action—and it’s your turn to speak up.

Europe’s Ocean Pact: A Bold Vision

One of the most high-profile announcements at UNOC3 was the official launch of the European Ocean Pact on June 5. Framed as a comprehensive blueprint for EU ocean leadership, the Pact is built around six action-oriented pillars:

1. Restoring ocean health through marine protected areas and blue carbon reserves

2. Empowering a sustainable blue economy—from industry and ports to fisheries and ocean talent

3. Supporting vulnerable coastal zones, including islands and outermost regions

4. Advancing marine knowledge via expanded EU ocean monitoring, youth engagement, and a cutting-edge Digital Twin of the Ocean, unveiled on June 6

5. Enhancing maritime security, including clearing unexploded ordnance

6. Strengthening ocean diplomacy, including BBNJ treaty ratification and mandatory digital catch records starting in 2026

   
   

The Pact also includes a €1 billion package of voluntary commitments and sets the stage for an “Ocean Act” by 2027, along with a governance dashboard and a new multi-sectoral ocean board.

It’s an ambitious, integrated roadmap - science-based, digitally advanced, and diplomatically strategic. Yet, for many in the ocean community, 2027 feels far off, given the urgency of today’s marine crises. With coral reefs bleaching, fisheries under pressure, and climate impacts accelerating, the next two years will be crucial not for more vision—but for visible action.

👩‍🔬 Women Leading the Blue Economy

Gender equity emerged as a powerful theme on Day One, with two standout sessions highlighting the essential, but often overlooked, role of women in ocean industries.

In the morning, the NOVA Ocean Research Center presented its Empowering Women in the Blue Economy project. Since 2023, the initiative has gathered field data from Portugal, Cape Verde, and Japan, focusing on women's participation in fisheries and maritime transport. Findings revealed that while women play vital roles, especially in post-harvest activities and emerging leadership positions, their contributions remain largely informal and undervalued.

The research calls for policy action across three key areas: (1) Safety and dignity at sea, (2) Economic recognition of informal roles and (3) Work-life integration through flexible support systems

The session, featuring Manuela Bocayuva, Vera Alexandropoulou, Assunção Cristas, and a video message from Maria Damanaki, offered a clear, evidence-based roadmap for building gender-inclusive ocean policies.

Later in the day, the spotlight shifted to entrepreneurship at the Wavemakers event, hosted by Tool. With the goal of identifying 10,000 women ocean entrepreneurs by 2030, the event spotlighted women building innovative ocean startups across the globe. Examples included underwater WiFi (Wsense), seaweed-based fibers (Phycolabs), smart fishing gear (Blue Ocean Gear), solar-powered ice machines for small-scale fishers (Sunwave), and sustainable ferry design (MobyFly).

Together, both sessions underscored a clear message: women’s leadership is not a side note in the blue economy, it’s a driving force. Inclusion is essential for resilience, creativity, and lasting impact.

🎥 Sea Change: The Future of Fishing

Blue Ventures’ documentary Sea Change offered a sharp critique of industrial fishing and its impacts on small-scale fisheries, marine ecosystems, and EU fisheries policy, especially the disconnect between the Maximum Sustainable Yield framework and what’s happening on the water.

The film also introduced forward-looking solutions, such as AI-based, fish-selective net cameras to reduce bycatch and innovations in sustainable aquaculture. At its core, it called for smarter, more equitable approaches to ocean management that balance technology with community needs.

🌊 Inspiring Stories: Community-led Approaches to 30x30

In a separate session focused on community-led marine protection, we heard stories that underscored why top-down conservation often fails—and how inclusive, locally grounded action delivers.

Speakers shared how communities, when empowered, revived traditional MPAs, engaged women and youth in monitoring, and integrated traditional marine knowledge into local governance. Tangible results followed: returning fish populations like Bluefin Trevally, reduced sedimentation, stronger reef health, and better access to funding.

The key takeaway: to achieve the 30x30 target, we must move beyond imposed protections and invest in inclusive, co-created marine governance.

💰 Navigating Blue Finance: Funding Ocean Restoration

At a specialist talk hosted by the World Bank, we explored strategies for blue finance, innovative funding tools essential for scaling marine conservation. According to the recent World Bank report, at least $1 trillion by 2030 is needed to implement ocean-based climate solutions, from offshore renewables to sustainable fishing and resilient coastal infrastructure.

These blue finance tools like blue bonds, debt-for-nature swaps, and blended finance are only effective when paired with strong governance, partnerships, and shared vision. As the report emphasized, "global efforts must be backed by concrete action" through coordinated frameworks. This is a pivotal moment: statements are vital, but so is the money and strategy to make it happen.

🌊 An Evening with Coral Gardeners

As the day came to a close, we attended the opening night cocktail, where we connected with the Coral Gardeners—a youth-led team restoring coral reefs across the Pacific. Through science, community engagement, and storytelling, they’re bringing degraded reefs back to life and inspiring the next generation of ocean stewards.

🌐 Looking Ahead

Day One of UNOC 2025 showed that protecting the ocean is not only a global imperative, it’s a human one. From presidents to coral gardeners, from policy to finance to inclusion, the future of the ocean is being shaped by those bold enough to act.