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Co-hosted by France and Costa Rica, UNOC3 brought 15,000 participants, including more than 60 Heads of State and Government, to France’s Mediterranean coast, in Nice.
© Taryn Schulz

UN ocean summit in Nice closes with wave of commitments

Ships in the port of Nice sounded their fog-horns on Friday, a brassy crescendo to a rare moment of global unity as the Third UN Ocean Conference drew to a close. Moments earlier, more than 170 countries had adopted by consensus a sweeping political declaration promising urgent action to protect the ocean.

Fishermen in Grenada.
PROCARIBE+ project

‘No Ocean Declaration without small islands’: Delegates push for inclusion as UN summit nears end

With one day remaining before the conclusion of the Third UN Ocean Conference, delegates in Nice are preparing for the adoption of the summit’s eagerly anticipated political declaration. Small island developing States, facing the direct effects of climate change and marine resource decline, are pushing to ensure their perspectives are reflected in global ocean policy.

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A school of fish swims close to Los Islotes Island in La Paz, Mexico.
© Ocean Image Bank/Amanda Cotto

Greed is driving oceans toward collapse

The ocean is under siege – and greed is to blame. UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday urged world leaders and grassroots groups to confront the powerful interests driving marine destruction, from illegal fishing and plastic pollution to the accelerating impacts of climate change.

Statsraad Lehmkuhl docks the Port Lympia in Nice, France.
UN News/Heyi Zou

No green without blue: Young ocean explorers set sail for a sustainable future

With science at the forefront of the opening day of the Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3), UN News boarded a 111-year-old Norwegian tall ship on the French Riviera to meet 50 science students, along with a host of lecturers and citizen scientists fresh from a 46-day expedition. Fueled by satellite data from the European Space Agency (ESA), their invaluable observations echo the urgent call to understand and protect the world’s oceans.