The Let’s Be Nice to the Ocean Initiative has released a paper laying out proposals to elevate Ocean conservation through the Protection Principle at the upcoming Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC-3) in Nice, France, in June 2025. The report argues that “adopting the Protection Principle, based on the recognition of the intrinsic value of the Ocean, can be a game-changer with immediate effect.”
Rémi Parmentier, Co-founder and Co-director of The Varda Group and Coordinator of Let’s Be Nice to the Ocean Initiative, authored the paper, which was launched on 30 October 2024, during the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP 16) in Cali, Colombia.
Titled, ‘Advancing the Protection Principle,’ the report calls for Ocean protection to become the norm rather than the exception, placing the burden of proof on extractive and polluting industries. This, it argues, will ensure that the preservation and restoration of Ocean health and ecosystems take precedence over exploitation.
The paper explores the Ocean, climate, and biodiversity nexus, emphasizing the Ocean as “the ultimate biodiversity hotspot” and the “engine room” of the global climate system, absorbing up to 90% of the excess heat generated by anthropogenic activities and some 25% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. However, today, the Ocean faces unprecedented warming, acidification, and biodiversity loss, it warns.
The report discusses the evolution of the Precautionary Principle in environmental policy and makes the case for the Protection Principle as a transformative new approach to how we manage our shared Ocean biodiversity.
Among its recommendations, the paper calls for the Nice Ocean Action Plan in June 2025 to adopt the Protection Principle as an aspirational goal and agree to convene an ad hoc expert group to develop a report with options and a roadmap before the Fourth UN Ocean Conference in 2028. It calls for rethinking approaches to access rights, responsibilities, and quotas, in alignment with the emerging notion of Ocean rights and the principles of Ocean justice. Both imply equitable and sustainable use of Ocean resources, particularly for Indigenous Peoples and vulnerable coastal communities who rely on the Ocean for their livelihoods and cultural heritage.
Warning that the time for the Ocean is running out, the report urges governments to seize the opportunity in Nice “to reverse the tide” before “a tsunami of impacts” reaches our shores.
Let’s Be Nice to the Ocean is an initiative coordinated by The Varda Group in cooperation with the Ocean & Climate Platform and in partnership with TBA21-Academy, Dona Bertarelli Philanthropy, the Tara Ocean Foundation, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, MedPAN, and Ocean Born Foundation. The Varda Group and the Ocean & Climate Platform are co-facilitating the input and participation of civil society in UNOC-3.
Source: sdg.iisd
