Ocean Conference in Nice: States strive for more marine protection

Overheated, acidified, polluted: The world's oceans are under stress. Now, increasing deep-sea mining is also threatening the situation. Yet there are many reasons to treat these fragile oceans with care.

The United Nations is now making another attempt to protect the oceans. By Friday, 130 countries in Nice, southern France , intend to follow up on decades-long promises with concrete actions. The 3rd UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) in the Mediterranean will discuss a rescue plan for the oceans.

At the start of the event this Monday, host Emmanuel Macron called for decisive action to protect the oceans: "We need swift action, not retreat," the French President told the representatives of the international community.

High Seas Agreement in Sight

Macron promised that the long-planned United Nations High Seas Treaty would soon come into effect. Approximately 15 additional states have committed to ratifying the agreement by the end of the year. This will bring the threshold of 60 countries to bear, allowing the agreement to enter into force. "The agreement will be implemented; that's done," Macron said on Monday in Nice.

The agreement would make it possible to designate protected areas in international waters that have so far been largely lawless. This is one of the topics being debated at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, which runs until Friday.

According to the nonprofit Marine Conservation Institute, currently just 2.7 percent of the oceans are effectively protected from destructive resource extraction activities. This is far less than the target agreed upon as part of the 30x30 initiative, according to the Glen Ellen, California-based institute.

The 30x30 initiative aims to protect 30 percent of land and sea areas by 2030. "The high seas must not become the new Wild West," stressed UN Secretary-General António Guterres in Nice.

Macron and the manganese nodules

At the start of the UNOC meeting, the French President called for a moratorium on deep-sea mining. The seabed is rich in natural resources in many places. But the deep-sea ecosystem, where plants and animals withstand high water pressure in total darkness, is considered extremely fragile. The flora and fauna there are still largely unexplored, and the effects of human activity are difficult to assess.

France and 30 other countries are calling for a temporary halt to mining on the ocean floor. "It would be madness to launch an economic exploitation of the deep seabed that would destroy biodiversity," Macron warned. A moratorium is therefore "an international necessity," the French president said.

In this context, Macron could not resist taking a swipe at the USA , which, after much hesitation, sent a representative to Nice: "The seabed is not for sale, just as Greenland is not for sale," said the host, referring to efforts by US President Donald Trump to promote deep-sea mining and annex the world's largest island.

The conference on the Côte d'Azur aims to further expand the coalition of 31 countries calling for a precautionary pause in deep-sea mining. Germany also supports this. Scientists fear that the mining of so-called manganese nodules could permanently destroy pristine underwater ecosystems.

Germany announces voluntary commitment

"The oceans are the blue lungs of the planet. They produce oxygen, provide us humans with food, and are the world's largest interconnected ecosystem," emphasized German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider in Nice. International cooperation to protect the oceans is essential.

Schneider plans to present several voluntary commitments from the German federal governments in Nice. These include the recovery of old munitions from the First and Second World Wars in the North and Baltic Seas. Furthermore, partner countries, including Brazil, Indonesia, and Senegal, will receive support in designating protected areas on the high seas.

The UN conference will also focus on preparing for the upcoming round of negotiations for a plastics agreement in August. "What we humans return to the oceans is far too often just our plastic waste. That has to change," said the Federal Environment Minister. It is good that the ocean is "finally getting the attention it deserves" with the UN conference.

To ratify the High Seas Convention, two laws must be passed in Germany. Whether this can be done by the end of the year is unclear. "The goal is to participate in the first Conference of the Parties," said a spokesperson for the Federal Environment Ministry. This could take place in New York in August 2026.

Protection from trawls

The United Kingdom announced on Monday that it would further restrict trawling, arguing that this type of fishing damages the seabed and also releases climate-damaging CO2. The British protected areas where trawling is prohibited are to be expanded from the current 18,000 to 48,000 square kilometers.

Host country France had also announced plans to restrict trawling – albeit at a lower level: It will be banned in four percent of French waters in the future, instead of the current 0.1 percent. Environmentalists call this insufficient.

AR/pgr (afp, dpa, rtr)