The co-facilitators of civil society engagement in the 2025 Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) are soliciting additional input from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) ahead of the high-level stakeholder meeting in San José, Costa Rica, in June 2024. Themed, ‘Immersed in Change,’ the stakeholder meeting will serve as a platform to generate, ahead of UNOC3, national, regional, and global solutions by highlighting topics of significance to ocean governance.

Rémi Parmentier, Co-Founder, The Varda Group, and Loreley Picourt, Executive Director, Ocean & Climate Platform, charged with co-facilitating civil society engagement in UNOC3, are seeking to engage with NGOs who responded to the UNOC survey in summer 2023. The outcomes of that consultation, which span the areas of fisheries, education, science, and marine conservation, were published in September.

The co-facilitators are also seeking input from 300+ individual stakeholders and civil society organizations (CSOs) that have since contacted them or subscribed to the LinkedIn ‘Let’s Be Nice to the Ocean’ page.

The co-facilitators expect to publish the outcome of this new call for participation in an addendum to the original ‘Let’s Be Nice to the Ocean’ paper, in time for the Costa Rica conference, scheduled to convene from 7-8 June 2024, one year before UNOC3. According to Parmentier, the exact format of the document will depend on the “number, nature, and characteristics of the inputs received.” Its working title is ‘The San José Addendum.’

Interested stakeholders can submit their input here.

The Third UN Ocean Conference will convene in Nice, France, from 9-13 June 2025. Co-chaired by the Governments of France and Costa Rica, the Conference aims to generate transformative action and provide solutions the ocean needs, supported by ocean science and funding for SDG 14 (life below water). It will also review progress on key processes that need high-level political will and engagement. UNOC3 follows the first and second UN Ocean Conferences, respectively held in New York, US, in June 2017 and in Lisbon, Portugal, in June 2022. 

Among other issues, the high-level stakeholder event in Costa Rica will address:

• Fishing resources;
• The fight against ghost fishing gear;
• Blue economy;
• Satellite technology for ocean conservation and sustainable use;
• Promoting global access to ocean cleanup technologies;
• Scientific developments to address marine plastic pollution;
• Effective implementation of global agreements; and
• Mobilization of necessary and available resources and financial mechanisms for effective ocean health and governance.

In July 2024, the President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) will convene a one- to two-day preparatory meeting, at UN Headquarters in New York, US. The two host countries of UNOC3 will co-chair the meeting. [Let’s Be Nice for the Ocean Initiative]