UN Ocean Conference - a pivotal chance to shore up more sustainable blue economy

Nice (France), June 6 As the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) prepares to convene in Nice, leading marine scientists from across the world are calling on governments to deliver on long-standing commitments to protect fragile deep-sea ecosystems, including seamounts, from the devastation of bottom trawling.

Scientists say there are only five years left to achieve the goal of protecting 30 per cent of the ocean. Currently, 8.3 per cent of the ocean is protected, with only three per cent fully protected.

UNOC3, the largest ocean summit ever organised, will bring together a wide range of stakeholders, including governments, international organisations, civil society, the private sector, and academia.

The ocean powers 80 per cent of global trade and supports jobs, food security and climate action. But climate change, pollution and underinvestment threaten its future.

However, the scientific community calls for urgent action to protect the deep from the destruction of bottom trawling.

Awe-inspiring underwater worlds, seamounts act as spawning and nursery grounds, sources of food, places of rest, and waypoints in the open ocean for whales, sharks, and countless other species.

However, experts say bottom trawling continues to destroy these ancient, fragile and vital ecosystems of the deep, permitted by a handful of countries that should instead be taking action to deliver on a United Nations (UN) resolution adopted nearly 20 years ago.

Under a series of UN resolutions, vulnerable marine ecosystems, including seamounts, should be protected from destructive activities.

Concern about bottom trawling on seamounts was first raised at the UN in 2004, and a General Assembly resolution was passed in 2006 to stop the practice, which states have yet to implement and enforce.

In an open letter, signed by international scientists, states are urged to take immediate action to protect these extraordinary underwater mountains.

The letter outlines the growing scientific evidence highlighting and affirming seamounts' ecological importance as biodiversity hotspots, as recently shown in David Attenborough’s landmark documentary, Ocean.

Lissette Victorero, Science Advisor at the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC), said: "Never before have we known so much about seamounts and their importance for biodiversity, their vulnerability, and their essential role in keeping our ocean healthy."

"This letter is a call to action from the scientific community. States have the tools required to stop this destruction and save thousands of years of history from being wiped out by bottom trawling. The science is clear: the time for action is now," Victorero said.

Opening of the UNOC3 on June 9 will feature the official opening segment, which will include addresses by the UN Secretary-General, the President of Costa Rica and the President of the French Republic (co-hosts of the summit).

At UNOC3, which will last till June 13, commitments are expected. Among them, new marine protected areas will be announced, and hopes are high that European leaders may take action on bottom trawling in marine-protected areas.

However, marine litter presents a huge problem in oceans, with some scientists warning that by 2050, the quantity of plastics in the oceans will outweigh fish.

IMO has been regulating marine plastic litter for the last 50 years -- from the dumping of waste at sea to discharges from ships. Science says by 2040 plastic leakage to the environment is predicted to grow by 50 per cent, and that pollution creeps into “our bodies through the food we eat, the water we drink, and even the air that we breathe”.

World Environment Day 2025 calls for collective action to tackle plastic pollution. It comes exactly two months before countries resume negotiations towards a global treaty to end plastic pollution.

The European Parliament has approved rules to reduce plastic marine litter and total packaging waste per capita and, by 2030, ban certain single-use plastic packaging.

Each person living in the EU generated 36.1 kilos of plastic packaging waste on average in 2021. The volume of plastic packaging waste generated per inhabitant increased by about 29 per cent between 2010 and 2021. The total plastic waste produced in the EU in 2021 was 16,13 million tonnes. Some 6,56 million tonnes of plastic waste were recycled.

With the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projecting India to remain the fastest-growing major economy over the next two years, it is yet to come up with a direct policy that mandates the mitigation of marine litter.

A study published in Nature has revealed that India has become the world's largest contributor to plastic pollution, accounting for nearly 20 per cent of the total global plastic waste.

With 9.3 million tonnes of plastic waste generated annually, India's contribution to this environmental catastrophe is larger than that of entire regions.

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