Troubled waters: Ocean conservation faces key tests

The tide is turning as the world focuses its attention on ailing oceans, but global action needs to scale up dramatically.

- David Fogarty

The world's oceans are in deep trouble. The planet's most defining feature is being fouled by plastic pollution, its fish stocks plundered and is becoming increasingly hotter as the planet warms. The "big blue" is, indeed, feeling very blue.

The United Nations says the oceans are facing an emergency. Last week, more than 60 world leaders answered the UN's call for action by attending the June 9 to 13 Third UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, which was co-hosted by Costa Rica.

That so many leaders turned up at the conference (the first and second were held in 2017 and 2022), despite wars, US President Donald Trump's tariff chaos and cost-of-living pressures, is a testament to the growing concern over the declining health of oceans and how this will affect humanity.

More than 20 new marine protected areas were announced. The UN High Seas Treaty could be just months away from coming into force after 19 additional ratifications.

More than 90 nations voiced support for a legally ambitious UN plastics treaty and several countries joined a coalition backing a precautionary pause or outright ban on deep-sea mining, bringing the number of nations to 37.

"Protecting the ocean is beginning to become fashionable," said Dr Sylvia Earle, a leading marine biologist and oceanographer at an event during the conference.

Still, for all the goodwill and announcements, it amounts to a ripple when a tsunami of global action is needed.

"With five years left to meet the global goal of protecting 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030 and an urgent need to improve the management of the marine ecosystems that we all rely on, the time is now for world leaders to champion ocean health," Mr Roger-Mark De Souza, vice-president of environment at The Pew Charitable Trusts, told The Straits Times.

What happens next is key.