UN Ocean Conference opens: A push to turn promises into protection

The third U.N. Ocean Conference opened Monday as pressure mounts for nations to turn decades of promises into real protection for the sea.

- BY ANNIKA HAMMERSCHLAG

The summit comes as just 2.7 percent of the ocean is effectively protected from destructive extractive activities, according to the nonprofit Marine Conservation Institute. That's far below the target agreed under the “30x30” pledge to conserve 30 percent of land and sea by 2030.

Atop this year’s agenda is ratifica-tion of the High Seas Treaty. Adopted in 2023, the treaty would for the first time allow nations to establish marine protected areas in international waters, which cover nearly two-thirds of the ocean and are largely ungoverned.

“It’s the Wild West out there with countries just fishing anywhere without any sort of regulation, and that needs to change,” said Mauro Randone, regional projects manager at the World Wildlife Fund’s Mediterranean Marine Initiative. “The high seas belong to everyone and no one practically at the same time, and countries are finally committing to establish some rules.”