A Review of the United Nations Ocean Conference and the Fight to Protect our Seas

Last Friday, the Third Edition of the United Nations Ocean Conference drew to a close after having run from the 9th-13th June. Co-organized by the governments of France and Costa Rica, the conference primarily concentrated on the 14th Sustainable Development Goal, which promotes the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas and marine resources. Despite the total ocean economy being valued between $3-6 trillion a year, SDG 14 consistently suffers from poor financing, with a recent review confirming that the SDG 14 remains the “least funded of all SDGs”.  A key aim of the Conference, therefore, looked at activating spending to support the ultimate development of a sustainable blue economy. 

Provoking important discussions about the protection of our oceans, the conference has arrived at a pressing and necessary time. Indeed, just six weeks prior, President Trump expanded his assault against the environment to international waters, declaring that the US would pursue deep-sea mining as a means of extracting critical minerals.  Such deep-sea mining would involve plunging 4,000-6,000 metres below the sea’s surface to obtain polymetallic nodules containing minerals such as copper and nickel, both of which are key for the global transition towards clean energy. 

Trump’s orders however risk invoking a “race to the bottom”, where other states such as Canada, China and South Korea, alongside private actors, may look to stake similar claims below the sea. With the profits from deep-sea mining estimated at $20 trillion, there appear to be clear economic incentives for such exploration. These financial rewards however, come at a devastating cost to the ocean’s ecosystem. Deep-sea mining risks unleashing environmental degradation across new borders, destroying the seabed and suffocating several underwater species with disrupted sediment. 

In reference to Trump’s deep-sea declaration, Macron vehemently declared at the Oceans conference that the “oceans are not for sale”. Similar sentiments were echoed by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who warned that the “deep sea cannot become the Wild West”. Indeed, the ocean is a “global commons”, it belongs to everyone and no one at the same time. Thus, Trump’s greed to exploit the ocean’s resources and claim deep sea waters for the US state seems to replicate colonial narratives of unjustly claiming land for extractivist purposes. If the ocean’s inherent freedom is entrenched in this way, Trump risks creating a sacrifice zone across entirely new frontiers.

But why is the ocean so important anyway? Constituting “99% of our living space on the globe”, the Ocean is one of our biggest allies in fighting climate change. 50% of the oxygen that humans need is generated by the ocean. But the ocean is not just “the lungs of the planet”, it is also the planet’s largest carbon sink. For instance, the ocean is home to mangroves and seagrasses which can sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere four times quicker than terrestrial forests can. Storing an average of 1,000 tonnes of carbon per hectare, mangroves are essential in helping the ocean to absorb 30% of all carbon dioxide emissions and capture 90% of the excess heat which these emissions generate. Professor Callum Roberts emphasises the incredible impact of this, stating that “if the sea had not absorbed more than 90% of the excess heat that has been added to the planet as a result of greenhouse gas emissions, then the world wouldn’t just be one and a half degrees warmer, it would be about 36 degrees warmer”. The significance of preserving our oceans, therefore, cannot be overstated. And yet, according to Dr Jean-Pierre Gatusso, the oceans risk being the “first ecosystem which is potentially subject to disappearance”. 

Ahead of the UN Conference, scientists warned that oceans might just be reaching their limits. According to recent research, the oceans have absorbed the heat of 1.7 billion atomic bombs, that’s equivalent to five atomic bomb explosions per second. Reaching warmer temperatures, concerns have since arisen that the ocean is facing irreversible damage. 

And so, the UN Conference called together 175 countries to collaborate against this damage. Following the end of the conference, several positive steps had been made; $8.7 billion was raised to invest in accelerating ocean conservation and the High Seas Treaty gained 19 more ratifications, bringing their total to be only 10 short of the necessary 60. Furthermore, four new countries supported Macron’s call for a moratorium which would see deep-sea mining put on pause. Whilst these are definitely steps in the right direction, further action ought to be taken to ensure that both the High Seas Treaty and moratorium reach the number of ratifications necessary to be enforced legally. 

It is however,  important to highlight that the Conference also oversaw $25 million worth of pledges to the Global Fund for Coral Reef, which hopes to protect some of the 12% of Earth’s reefs by 2030. Furthermore, governments such as Chile, Colombia and Tanzania all announced their plans to expand Marine Protected Areas, alongside the French Polynesia who revealed the creation of the world’s largest MPA, covering 5 million square kilometres. 

I would therefore like to end this article on a more positive note, one of hope and promise for the future of our oceans. It feels fitting here to reiterate the words of one of our planet’s biggest defenders: Sir David Attenborough. In his recent documentary, Oceans, Attenborough emphasises his dismay at the current state of the sea. He does, however, emphasise that the oceans are not yet lost. Speaking of the ocean’s resilience, Attenborough reminds us the fruits to be reaped from actively seeking positive change, declaring that:  “The ocean can bounce back to life… If left alone it may not just recover but thrive beyond anything anyone alive has ever seen”.  

Image: Wikimedia Commons/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Licence: public domain.

All four edges cropped to occlude numbers.