23 January 2025 – Preparations for the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) have wind in their sails. From 14 to 15 January 2025, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD) called port in Incheon, Republic of Korea to convene a High-Level Retreat on Investing in Ocean Solutions: Towards a Brighter Future for the Ocean.
The Retreat served as a precursor to the 2025 UN Ocean Conference, which will be held in Nice, France from 9 to13 June 2025. The two-day interactive workshop brought together more than 50 participants from governments, UN entities, civil society, the private sector and academia. Reflecting on the journey ahead of UNOC3, Ambassador Peter Thomson, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, emphasized that, “Our messaging has to be pragmatic. We must provide hope through progress. Our work has to be about carefully and steadfastly laying the foundations upon which we can build resilience and sustainable security for future generations.”
Discussions leveraged the diversity of participants to propose concrete recommendations, ideas and insights supporting the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14: Life Below Water. Mr. Li Junhua, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and Secretary-General of the Conference, stated, “We must urgently scale up financing for SDG 14 and investment in ocean-based economies. We must also advance synergized policies and actions, such as ocean-based solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss, that can drive progress across multiple SDGs.”
The Retreat presented a valuable occasion for the co-hosts of the Conference, Costa Rica and France, to share their vision and expectations for the Conference and exchange views on key topics ahead of UNOC3. Charting course for the Conference, Ambassador Gina Guillen, Director General for Foreign Policy and Special Presidential Envoy for the Ocean of Costa Rica, reminded participants that, “Science should be the compass guiding us to ensure the protection of the Ocean. The time is now, the opportunity is unique, and the call is urgent!”
Attendees further addressed the preparation of an action-oriented, intergovernmental declaration for UNOC3 that will be one of the key outcomes of the Conference. Ahead of the intergovernmental consultations on the declaration zero draft that started on Friday, 17 January 2025, in New York, Ambassador Tania Romualdo, Permanent Representative of Cabo Verde to the United Nations and one of the two co-facilitators of the declaration, affirmed, “We (humans) need the Ocean more than she needs us. Let’s act now! We owe it to her and to our future generations.”
The solution-oriented programme offered a unique opportunity for distinguished participants to advance practical ideas for reviewing, reinvigorating and reorganizing the efforts of Communities of Ocean Action. The COAs, established following the 2017 UN Ocean Conference, have been instrumental in advancing the implementation of Voluntary Commitments (VCs) for concrete action to advance implementation of SDG 14. The online registry of VCs, managed by UN DESA, currently hosts over 2,100 commitments from governments, UN entities, philanthropic organizations, NGOs and other stakeholders.
More information on the High-Level Retreat can be found here: https://sdgs.un.org/events/high-level-retreat-investing-ocean-solutions-towards-brighter-future-ocean-54932
