Seas the day Oceans at risk have 'crucial moment' at UN summit

Decades after Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the pioneering French oceanographer and filmmaker, called the sea "man's only hope" and moved from merely sharing his underwater world to sounding the alarm for its future, another much-loved naturalist is following in his wake.

- Karen McVeigh

In his acclaimed new film, simply called Ocean, David Attenborough highlights the destructive fishing practice of bottom trawling. One year shy of his 100th birthday, the broadcaster says he has come to the realisation that the "most important place on Earth is not on land but at sea".

His voice is one of many calling for seas to have more governance and protection, citing undeniable indicators of poor ocean health.

The mood at this week's UN ocean summit, which ended yesterday, suggested a defining moment for the cause – that the wider world was at last seeing the importance of something that makes up more than 70% of the Earth's surface.

The summit took place on the Côte d'Azur, overlooking the shimmering Mediterranean Sea, where Emmanuel Macron, the French president and co-host, told the delegates: "Never before have so many heads of state and governments met to discuss the seas." Sixty world leaders were in attendance – three times as many as attended the 2022 conference – along with 190 ministers. The US, however, did not attend.