Covering 70% of the Earth’ surface, oceans are essential for the health of our planet, our economies, and our future. Safeguarding them is not simply about conservation, it must involve an economic strategy that addresses climate resilience, food security, and sustainable development, participants at the 2025 UN Ocean Conference in France concluded.
Nevertheless, despite their central role as Earth’s life support, the oceans are buckling under the weight of human exploitation and remain underfunded, greatly underappreciated, and threatened.
Why the ocean matters
The ocean plays a fundamental role in sustaining life on Earth. Here is why protecting it is mandatory and non-negotiable:
- Climate regulator: Absorbs 20–30% of CO₂ and over 82% of excess global heat, protecting us from more extreme temperature rises.
- Carbon sink: Blue carbon ecosystems such as mangroves and seagrass beds store vast amounts of carbon. Mangroves are believed to be able to sequester around 1,000 metric tons of CO2 per hectare, whereas seagrasses can store up to 83,000 metric tons of carbon per square kilometer.
- Oxygen source: The ocean produces over half of the planet’s oxygen.
- Biodiversity heaven: Coral reefs support 25% of marine species, seagrass beds support 20% of major global fisheries while mangroves shelter around 700 billion juvenile fish and invertebrates each year.
- Natural shield: Coral reefs and mangroves are natural barriers that protect coastlines from storms and flooding.
See also: Saving corals can save communities
How human activity is wrecking the ocean
- Pollution: Over 11 million tons of plastic enter the ocean annually. Microplastics now average 63,000 particles per km².
- Overfishing: Around 90% of global fish stocks are fully exploited or overexploited.
- Biodiversity collapse: Over 90% of the top marine predators, such as sharks and tuna, have disappeared.
- Habitat destruction: Coral reefs and mangroves, which are critical for biodiversity and coastal protection, are being destroyed at an alarming rate. In the Caribbean alone, coral loss leads to US$350–870 million in annual losses in tourism and fisheries.
The UN Ocean Conference calls for action
The participants at the 2025 UN Ocean Conference – world leaders, scientists, and civil society – emphasized that reversing this damage and addressing these pressures requires not simply recognition of these issues but real-time tracking and commitments to scale enforcement through marine technology and regional cooperation.
The Nice Ocean Action Plan, adopted by consensus, is a landmark commitment to step up protection measures, strengthen enforcement through marine technology, and unlock financing for a sustainable blue economy.
To this end, a number of countries committed to put in place smart economic moves that support fisheries, protect coastlines, and boost carbon storage:
- France announced 4 million km² of the Pacific will be marine protected areas, with 900,000 km² completely off-limits to fishing.
- Greece plans to create two new marine parks and ban bottom trawling in these.
- Sierra Leone pledged to protect 30% of its waters and restore 30,000 hectares of mangroves.
- Canada, Indonesia, and Nigeria pledged to create national blue economy financing strategies. The Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) launched a €100 million blue bond for ocean-friendly projects.
- Jamaica introduced a US$500 million Blue-Green Investment Facility to support marine tourism and infrastructure.
See also: Local communities at the heart of coral restoration success
The scope of the blue economy
The initiatives announced at the conference revolved around the notion of a blue economy, with speakers pointing out that in order to scale these efforts, investment in the blue economy must significantly increase.
Worth US$3 to US$6 trillion annually, the global ocean economy accounts for an estimated 3–5% of global GDP and holds enormous untapped potential for developing countries.
The key sectors of the blue economy are:
- Fisheries and Aquaculture: In 2022, the world produced over 223 million tons of seafood, worth US$472 billion.
- Tourism and Recreation: These are the largest service-based sectors of the ocean economy. In 2023, they accounted for 33% of ocean-related exports, earned about US$726 billion out of US$2.2 trillion, and supported the livelihoods of over 600 million people worldwide.
- Maritime Transport & Shipping: Shipping moves 90% of all goods worldwide by volume. In 2021, over 50,000 ships carried 11 billion tons, earning US$500 billion in freight and supporting almost 2 million seafarers.
- Marine Biotechnology & New Industries: Valued at US$4.2 billion in 2023, this sector is projected to grow to US$6.4 billion by the end of this year.Yet, ocean financing is falling drastically short. While global ocean goals (SDG 14) require US$175 billion annually, the world has invested just US$30 billion since 2010. The 2025 Ocean Conference acknowledged this gap and urged banks and governments to include blue finance in their climate plans. This gap must be closed if we are to protect both marine ecosystems and the potential of the blue economy, they noted.
