The UN Secretariat has circulated the final list of themes for the ten Ocean Action Panels that will convene during the Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC-3) in June 2025. The themes represent the “building blocks” of successful implementation of SDG 14 (life below water).
In a letter dated 18 September 2024, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Li Junhua, in his capacity as the Secretary-General of UNOC-3, informed Member States that the titles of the panels are:
- Fostering sustainable fisheries management, including supporting small-scale fishers;
- Conserving, sustainably managing, and restoring marine and coastal ecosystems including deep sea ecosystems;
- Promoting and supporting all forms of cooperation, especially at the regional and subregional level;
- Preventing and significantly reducing marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities;
- Leveraging ocean, climate, and biodiversity interlinkages;
- Advancing sustainable ocean-based economies, sustainable maritime transport, and coastal community resilience leaving no one behind;
- Promoting the role of sustainable food from the ocean for poverty eradication and food security;
- Increasing ocean-related scientific cooperation, knowledge, capacity building, marine technology, and education to strengthen the science-policy interface for ocean health;
- Enhancing the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources by implementing international law as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); and
- Mobilizing finance for ocean actions in the support of SDG 14.
Per the letter, the Secretariat will be preparing concept papers on each of the ten themes. The Secretary-General of UNOC-3 invited Member States to submit, by 15 November, inputs to these concept papers, as well as suggestions on experts to serve as moderators and panelists.
On 16 July, Permanent Representative of Costa Rica Maritza Chan-Valverde and Permanent Representative of France Nicolas de Rivière, in their capacity as the co-hosts of UNOC-3, circulated a letter informing Member States of the successful conclusion of the silence procedure on the revised final themes for the ten Ocean Action Panels. This was the second silence procedure for the panel themes. One delegation had broken silence on an earlier revision with respect to two themes.
The high-level 2025 UN Conference to Support the Implementation of SDG 14 (2025 UN Ocean Conference, or UNOC-3) will convene in Nice, France, from 9-13 June 2025, on the theme, ‘Accelerating Action and Mobilizing All Actors to Conserve and Sustainably Use the Ocean.’
The Conference will bring together all relevant stakeholders from governments, the UN system, intergovernmental organizations, international financial institutions (IFIs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs), academic institutions, the scientific community, the private sector, philanthropic organizations, Indigenous Peoples, and other actors to assess challenges and opportunities associated with SDG 14, as well as actions taken towards its implementation.
The Conference programme is here.
UNOC-3 will build on the previous UN Ocean Conferences, hosted by Sweden and Fiji in 2017 in New York, US, and by Portugal and Kenya in 2022 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Ahead of UNOC-3, the President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) convened a one-day preparatory meeting on 2 July at UN Headquarters in New York. From 7-8 June, Costa Rica organized a High-level Event on Ocean Action titled, ‘Immersed in Change,’ in San José, to contribute to UNOC-3 and its outcomes. [2025 UN Ocean Conference]