UN Ocean Conference 2025 Convenes in Nice, France, Addressing Ocean Conservation and Voluntary Commitments
The 2025 UN Ocean Conference was held in Nice, France, from June 9 to 13, 2025. Co-hosted by France and Costa Rica, the conference focused on accelerating action and mobilizing various stakeholders to conserve and sustainably use the ocean. A key aspect of the conference involved voluntary commitments, which are pledges made by governments, UN bodies, NGOs, companies, and other groups registered on UN platforms. The UN DESA analysis of previous conferences revealed that 1,406 commitments were registered around the 2017 conference and 741 for the 2022 conference. Notably, 90% of the 2022 commitments were marked as incomplete in the registry. The Ocean Conference commitments have since been migrated to the UN SDG Knowledge Platform, which listed 2,666 entries as of November 2026. These voluntary commitments are not legally binding treaty obligations.