The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) has published a synthesis of the inputs received from a broad range of stakeholders through an online consultation ahead of the Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3), scheduled to convene in Nice, France, in June 2025.
The summary report is titled, ‘Global Online Stakeholder Consultation: Inputs to Ocean Action Panels’ Concept Papers.’
DESA invited stakeholders to participate in a global online stakeholder consultation from 26 July to 30 August 2024, to contribute inputs to the concept papers for the ten UNOC3 Ocean Action Panels. According to the report, a total of 420 submissions were received from stakeholders based in 90 countries.
The ten themes of the Ocean Action Panels to convene during UNOC3 are as follows:
- Conserving, sustainably managing, and restoring marine and coastal ecosystems, including deep-sea ecosystems;
- Increasing ocean-related scientific cooperation, knowledge, capacity building, marine technology, and education to strengthen the science-policy interface for ocean health;
- Mobilizing finance for ocean actions in the support of SDG 14 (life below water);
- Preventing and significantly reducing marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities;
- Fostering sustainable fisheries management, including supporting small-scale fishers;
- Advancing sustainable ocean-based economies, sustainable maritime transport, and coastal community resilience leaving no one behind;
- Leveraging ocean, climate, and biodiversity interlinkages;
- Promoting and supporting all forms of cooperation, especially at the regional and subregional level;
- Promoting the role of sustainable food from the ocean for poverty eradication and food security; and
- 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).
Through a dedicated online form, stakeholders provided inputs to three requests under each of these themes: 1) to share one transformative action that needs to happen, and by whom, to overcome the challenges and to create better conditions to accelerate progress in achieving the theme; 2) to share evidence of new ways of working/new approaches/partnerships that have proved helpful to support accelerated implementation of SDG 14; and 3) to propose one or two keywords related to the theme.
Most stakeholder submissions came from Africa. The majority of stakeholders contributing to the online consultation self-identified as representing non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Ocean Action Panel 1 received the most inputs, followed by Ocean Action Panel 2 and Ocean Action Panel 8.
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), 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. [Publication: Global Online Stakeholder Consultation: Inputs to Ocean Action Panels’ Concept Papers] [Publication Landing Page]