The 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference, co-hosted by the governments of France and Costa Rica, opened in Nice on the morning of June 9. The conference strongly called for accelerating the pace of action and mobilizing all parties to protect the ocean and achieve sustainable use. Chinese Vice President Han Zheng was invited to attend the conference and delivered a speech. The United States was absent from the conference.
In his speech at the opening ceremony, UN Secretary-General Guterres said: "I urge all countries to make bold commitments. We are in turbulent times, but the determination witnessed here gives me hope - hope to reverse the ocean crisis." "I hope we can reverse the trend and turn from plunder to protection, from exclusion to fairness, and from short-term exploitation to long-term protection."
French President Macron said: "It is necessary to revitalize the multilateral system with the UN Secretary-General at its core. Only by mobilizing all actors, including heads of state, governments and scientists, can we meet this challenge."
Han Zheng pointed out at the conference that in September 2015, the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit unanimously adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and announced sustainable development goals in various fields, including the ocean. To achieve this goal, all parties need to share the mission and move forward hand in hand.
This high-level meeting, which brought together nearly 60 heads of state and thousands of scientists, private sector, civil society and indigenous community representatives, highlighted the important role of the ocean in regulating climate, maintaining food security and biodiversity. The ocean is currently facing the dual pressures of climate change and human activities: record high temperatures have severely affected marine life, and threats such as pollution, overfishing and biodiversity loss have pushed the marine ecosystem to the brink of collapse.
The meeting includes plenary sessions and ten special discussions on ocean action, during which more than 450 side events will be held. It is hoped that the Nice Ocean Action Plan will be jointly signed in the end as a common commitment to global ocean protection.
