From June 9 to 13, 2025, the Third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) was held in Nice, co-hosted by France and Costa Rica. The conference underscored the severity of the threats pushing our seas and oceans to the brink of irreversible damage. Oceans are essential for life on Earth and for mitigating the effects of climate change, yet their vital role is being undermined by global warming, plastic pollution, ecosystem loss, and the overexploitation of marine resources.
Around 15,000 participants attended the conference, including more than 60 heads of state and government. The event also brought together numerous representatives of international organizations, scientists, civil society, the private sector, and local communities, as well as nearly 100,000 visitors. This five-day gathering featured 450 side events aimed at fostering collaboration and securing concrete commitments to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development – a goal that remains one of the least funded among the SDGs.
The Nice Ocean Action Plan
The conference focused on three main priorities, which served as the foundation for the creation of the Nice Ocean Action Plan:
- strengthening global efforts to protect the oceans and seas more effectively
- increasing funding for ocean conservation and the development of the blue economy
- better integrating scientific knowledge into decision-making about ocean governance.
The resulting declaration, titled Our ocean, our future: united for urgent action, was adopted following several days of consultations and debate. It reaffirms global support for the 30×30 Goal (protecting 30% of land and sea by 2030), the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030), and the climate targets set by the UN’s International Maritime Organization (achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from shipping by 2050).
The declaration includes over 800 voluntary commitments made by governments, scientists, UN agencies, and civil society.
Among the announcements the European Commission pledged €1 billion for ocean protection and sustainable fisheries. French Polynesia committed to declaring the world’s largest marine protected area, spanning 5 million square kilometers. Germany will invest €100 million in removing underwater munitions. Spain will designate five new marine protected areas. As many as 37 countries, led by Panama and Canada, launched the High Ambition Coalition for the Pacific Ocean to address underwater noise pollution. And what about Croatia?
Croatia increases marine protected areas
At the plenary session titled Let the ocean breathe – so that humanity can thrive, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Minister of Environmental Protection and Green Transition Marija Vučković participated. Plenković highlighted the multiple threats facing oceans and emphasized that Croatia, as a maritime country with a rich coastal heritage, recognizes the fragility of marine ecosystems.
He pointed out that Croatia has increased the proportion of its marine protected areas from 12% to 32%. Notably, this expansion was announced just before the conference, on June 5, 2025 – World Oceans Day – when the Croatian Government adopted a Regulation amending the Regulation on the Ecological Network and the Jurisdiction of Public Institutions for Management of Sites of Ecological Network.
The new regulation designated additional marine ecological network areas, marking significant progress toward fulfilling Croatia’s obligations under the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. As a result, Croatia now has 36.8% of its land and 32.4% of its sea under some form of nature protection. The newly protected areas – that are now part of the Ecological network – focus on preserving bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta), and seabirds such as the Yelkouan Shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan) and the Scopoli’s Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea). Several new areas have also been designated to protect meadows of Posidonia oceanica.
– We are particularly pleased that areas important for seabirds have finally been designated, based on proposals from the LIFE Artina project. However, it is important to note that only two new IBA (Important Bird Areas) were included – the Lastovo Channel and Northern Adriatic. Three other proposed areas, along with the expansion of two existing ones, were not adopted by the Ministry or the Government, despite scientific validation. Their explanation is that further stakeholder communication is needed. While percentages and areas matter, and we welcome this major step by Croatia, the most important commitment is to establish truly effective protection and conservation of endangered species and habitats in all these protected areas. This requires strictly protected areas, stronger legal mechanisms, and improved on-the-ground oversight to ensure concrete biodiversity conservation measures at the Adriatic, – said Zrinka Jakl, Head of the Nature Conservation Department at Sunce.
Croatia’s promise for seas and oceans?
As confirmed by the Prime Minister, Croatia is also developing a National Nature Restoration Plan, aimed at rehabilitating degraded marine ecosystems. He highlighted the successful recovery of fish stocks in the Jabuka Pit as an example of effective marine management.
Discussing sustainable development, Plenković stressed that Croatia seeks to align economic growth with environmental protection, advocating for clean energy, safe maritime navigation, and digital monitoring of marine areas. Croatia also supports a legally binding Global Plastics Treaty.
During the same week as the conference, 19 countries – including Croatia – ratified the The Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), also known as the High Seas Treaty. This brought the total number of ratifications to 50, just 10 short of the 60 needed for the Treaty to enter into force.
Speaking to the media after the panel and the conference, the Prime Minister stated that Croatia’s goals remain focused on strengthening its Adriatic, maritime, and fisheries orientation. He believes that the European Ocean Pact, adopted by the European Commission on June 5 as a comprehensive strategy for ocean protection, “offers a new opportunity for conserving oceans and seas, particularly within the European Union,” and that “this will be a chance to invest more in our coastal areas through a strategic framework.”
– We believe investments in coastal areas only make sense if they support thoughtful, planned development based on principles of nature conservation and the sustainability of local communities. Right now, we are still witnessing chaotic development that increasingly puts pressure on the sea and coast. That means we need investment in the management of protected areas, the implementation of conservation measures, the regulation of anchoring, digital monitoring, and strengthening local capacities for sustainable use of marine resources, – emphasized Ana Miletić Miloš, Senior Expert Associate in the Nature Conservation Department at Sunce.
The next UN Ocean Conference will be co-hosted by Chile and South Korea in 2028. By then, many hope to see the full ratification of:
- The High Seas Treaty
- The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies
- The Global Plastics Treaty.