As coral reefs bleach, fish stocks collapse, and sea temperatures break records, world leaders are heading to the French Riviera — not for leisure, but for one of the most urgent diplomatic gatherings of the year, according to official UN website.

“The ocean is facing an unprecedented crisis due to climate change, plastic pollution, ecosystem loss, and the overuse of marine resources,” Li Junhua, a senior UN official serving as Secretary-General of the event, told UN News.

“We hope the conference will inspire unprecedented ambition, innovative partnerships, and maybe a healthy competition,” he said, highlighting the need for international cooperation to avoid irreversible damage.

The pressure is on. UNOC3 is bringing together world leaders, scientists, activists, and business executives to tackle the growing crisis in the world’s oceans. The goal: to spark a wave of voluntary pledges, forge new partnerships, and — if organizers succeed — inject a much-needed dose of accountability into the fight against marine degradation.

The week-long talks will culminate in the adoption of a political declaration and the unveiling of the Nice Ocean Action Plan — an effort to match the scale of the crisis and accelerate action to conserve and sustainably use the ocean.

The crisis isn’t a distant threat: it’s happening now. In April, global sea surface temperatures hit their second-highest levels ever for that month, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Meanwhile, the most extensive coral bleaching event in recorded history is underway — sweeping across the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and parts of the Pacific. More than a single event, it’s a planetary unraveling.

Coral reefs, which sustain a quarter of all marine species and underpin billions in tourism and fisheries, are vanishing before our eyes. Their collapse could unleash cascading effects on biodiversity, food security, and climate resilience.

And the damage runs deeper still. The ocean continues to absorb more than 90 per cent of excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions — a worldwide service that may be nearing its limits. “Challenges like plastic pollution, overfishing, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, and warming are all linked to climate change,” Mr. Li warned.

Still, there have been notable breakthroughs. In 2022, the World Trade Organization struck a far-reaching deal to phase out harmful subsidies that fuel overfishing, offering a rare glimmer of multilateral resolve. The following year, after decades of deadlock, nations adopted the High Seas Treaty, known by the shorthand BBNJ, to safeguard marine life in international waters. That long-awaited agreement is now poised to enter into force at the Nice summit.

But policy alone cannot reverse an ecosystem in free fall. “The global response is insufficient,” Li Junhua cautioned.

Progress, in other words, depends not only on political will but on the resources to match it.

That ambition is at the heart of what the Conference aims to deliver.

The theme of UNOC3, Accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean, reflects a shift from declarations to delivery.

Over five days, participants will grapple with the big questions: how to stem illegal fishing, reduce plastic pollution, and scale sustainable blue economies. Hundreds of new pledges are expected to build on the more than 2,000 voluntary commitments made since the first ocean summit in 2017.

The Nice Ocean Action Plan is set to align with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, a 2022 agreement calling for the protection of at least 30 per cent of marine and terrestrial ecosystems by 2030.

Alongside new pledges, the plan will include a formal declaration, which Mr. Li described as a “concise” and “action-oriented” political document.

The summit aims to bolster efforts toward protecting 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030 and to launch a roadmap for decarbonizing maritime transport.

The timing of the summit is intentional. A decade after the landmark Paris Agreement set targets for limiting global warming, UNOC3 is pushing to place the ocean at the center of climate action — not as an afterthought, but as a frontline battlefield.

“UNOC 3 addresses the interconnected crisis facing our oceans,” noted Mr. Li.

The summit also aims to be inclusive, highlighting voices often sidelined in global forums, such as women, Indigenous people, fisherfolk, and coastal communities.