United Nations Ocean Conference: a sea change in measuring and protecting marine biodiversity?

Last week’s United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice was aimed at accelerating action around protecting and conserving the ocean.

Building on two previous ocean conferences in 2017 and 2022, UNOC comes at a critical time. Our ocean and marine ecosystems are under intense threat from climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and overfishing. Urgent, collective action is essential to prevent irreversible damage and secure a healthy ocean for future generations.

Building Awareness

UNOC presented a powerful opportunity to flip the script on how we view the ocean.

“The call to action is strong,” says NatureMetrics Founder Dr Kat Bruce.  

“The role that the *living* ocean plays – in regulating climate, producing oxygen, protecting coastlines, supporting our economy and feeding billions of people – is rapidly being recognized across many sectors.

“However, there is still a huge collective job to be done to spread that awareness to engage all stakeholders within each sector, make the ocean’s role tangible and embed blue decision-making and policy.”

Kat says to do this, we have to “combine robust science with powerful storytelling”. She added that David Attenborough's recent film Oceans was a “fantastic example” of this approach.

Others include Clement Pourtal’s Blue Quest Palawan, about community-led ocean recovery in the Philippines. (And look out for NatureMetrics in the next of the series, Blue Quest Mozambique!)

The High Seas Treaty

The headline goal of the conference was to make progress on the High Seas Treaty.

Formally known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction, the treaty will be the first legally binding agreement focused on reducing marine biodiversity loss.

The agreement will be essential if we are to meet the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework’s “30x30” target to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030.

The High Seas Treaty was adopted by the UN in 2023 but will only come into force when ratified by the governments of 60 countries.

During UNOC, the number of ratifications rose from 31 to 50, with several countries, including the UK, promising to sign and ratify the agreement before the end of the year.

Rebecca Hubbard, Director of High Seas Alliance, said the “surge of ratifications for the High Seas Treaty is a tidal wave of hope and a huge cause for celebration.” She added that “with just 11 more ratifications needed for entry into force, it could be just a matter of weeks before the 60 is achieved.”

French President Emmanuel Macron told delegates that he believes enough countries had committed to ratifying the agreement that it could be implemented as early as January 2026.

Marine Protected Areas

The High Seas Treaty allows for the creation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in international waters, which cover roughly two-thirds of the oceans. Currently, most of this area is outside of national and international laws – leaving only  2.7% of the ocean fully or highly protected, according to the Marine Conservation Institute.

MPAs are restricted zones that protect and restore diverse marine life, including fish, shellfish, corals, sea turtles, and marine mammals, along with vital habitats like coral reefs and seagrass meadows.

MPAs will be vital for reaching 30x30 and for protecting precious areas of the deep sea from mining.

At UNOC, French Polynesia announced the creation of the world’s largest MPA. French Polynesian President Moetai Brotherson said the MPA would cover 4.8 million square kilometres. This includes 1.086 million km2 of ocean - an area twice the size of France.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says at least 30% of our oceans should be covered by MPAs and OECMs – sites that sit outside of protected areas that can help conserve biodiversity if properly managed.  

Dr Kat Bruce said it was “vital to ensure that Marine Protected Areas are more than just “paper parks” or lines on maps.”

She added that MPAs must be managed and monitored to ensure they are effective in delivering positive outcomes. And in coastal areas, local community stakeholders must both be involved in the design and implementation and benefit from their successful implementation.

Sustainable fishing practices

UNOC featured discussions aimed at ending illegal and unregulated fishing practices, as well as promoting science-based, community-led approaches to rebuilding fish stocks and minimizing ecosystem damage.

To illustrate the urgency of the issue, a new UN report has found that 35 per cent of global fish stocks are harvested unsustainably.

Commenting on the report, Manuel Barange, Assistant Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, said that human activity was steadily draining the ocean – and sound management was required to bring it back. “To use a banking comparison, we are extracting more than the interest the bank gives us. We are depleting the populations.”

Meanwhile, the World Trade Organization argued that aligning trade policies with ocean sustainability would help better support sustainable development while protecting the oceans.

Dr Kat Bruce said that destructive fishing practices such as trawling and dredging must be banned within MPAs to protect seafloor habitats and allow recovery.

The UK Government plans to ban trawling in 41 MPAs covering 30,000 km2. France has announced protection measures for 4% (15,000 square kilometres) of its mainland waters but has not announced a ban on bottom trawling in MPAs. Sweden and Greece have previously pledged to ban or strongly restrict bottom trawling in MPAs.

Blue Financing

The UN said that unlocking new financial streams — including philanthropic capital, blended finance, and public-private partnerships — will be crucial in supporting coastal resilience and sustainable blue economies.

“Financial instruments for channelling money into marine conservation are maturing fast and starting to demonstrate real capital flows into nature,” said Dr Kat Bruce, citing the work of organizations like ORRAA, Standard Chartered, BNP Paribas, The Nature Conservancy and Rebalance Earth.

At UNOC, UN Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua argued that “the time for incremental progress is over.” He argued that billions - not millions – in investment was required, along with binding commitments that can “survive political transitions and economic pressures.”

Dr Kat Bruce said: “Financial instruments supporting conservation do need robust data on the outcomes of the funding. They will allow us to set meaningful targets, thresholds and KPIs. And they will inform adaptive management so that conservation and management plans can be iterated and optimized to deliver the best possible outcomes as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

• At the sovereign level, debt-for-nature swaps are already unlocking billions for large-scale conservation in countries like Ecuador, Gabon & Belize. They are estimated to have the potential to deliver over $100 billion in conservation finance while also reducing the debt burden on countries.
• Domestically, Japan is leading the way in developing robust blue natural capital markets, providing a blueprint that other nations could follow. “Importantly, they are integrating carbon with biodiversity, nutrient & social outcomes, and setting a high price precedent for credits,” said Dr Kat Bruce. “This is vital because it ensures that effective conservation can be delivered while paying a decent wage to those implementing restoration and management on the ground.”
• In the UK, Rebalance Earth are demonstrating how pension funds can be deployed to fund the upfront costs of ecosystem restoration by reframing ecosystems as natural infrastructure, making them investible assets.
• Standard Chartered is driving performance through cost of capital mechanisms in structuring sustainability-linked loans – with lower interest rates if agreed sustainability KPIs are met. “This provides a powerful incentive for action, making sustainability goals material in a new way at the highest level within business,” said Dr Bruce.

At a UNOC panel on mobilizing finance for the ocean, ORRAA Executive Director Karen Sack said: “We need to be patient with capital, impatient with action and unlock a trillion-dollar investment opportunity.”

Actions from policymakers that can push  private capital in the right direction are exactly what it needed.

“We can't just cross our fingers and hope the private sector will magically fund nature restoration,” says NatureMetrics’ Strategic Partnership Director Laura Plant. “Policymakers need to actively drive the creation of an investable business case for nature – which also helps them meet their own national targets.”

To support such an approach, the IUCN has called for the establishment of a UN-mandated “one ocean finance facility” to direct more finance towards oceans, marine ecosystems and coastal communities.

Although only a few rich countries pledged new financial commitments at UNOC, EU President von der Leyen announced €1 billion in investment to support ocean conservation, science and sustainable fishing.

“The finance sector is ready, the data providers are ready, the project developers are ready,” said Laura. “We just need the policymakers to put the right nudges in place to start the private finance flowing.”

Deep-sea mining

In April, the Trump administration issued an executive order to fast-track deep-sea mining. At the conference, other countries in the international community spoke out about the urgent need for a multilaterally, rules-based approach.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the deep sea “cannot become the Wild West.”

Scientists have seen less than 0.001% of the deep-sea floor, equivalent to one-tenth the size of Belgium, according to research published by Science Advances. This makes the impact of deep-sea mining on fragile ecosystems and habitats almost impossible to assess without further research.

French President Emmanuel Macron said: “I think it’s madness to launch predatory economic action that will disrupt the deep seabed, disrupt biodiversity, destroy it, and release irrecoverable carbon sinks when we know nothing about it."

The Deep Sea Mining Coalition reports that 37 countries, including the hosts Costa Rica and France, as well as the EU, support either a moratorium or outright ban on the practice. Other countries, including China, have not called for a ban but have delayed issuing permits until an international framework is established.

Germany’s Minster for the Environment said that the International Seabed Authority (ISA) – a UN-affiliated body - had “the sole mandate to regulate and, if appropriate, approve mining activities.”

The ISA will meet in July to negotiate deep-sea mining rules.

Updated frameworks and metrics

In addition to Governmental action, businesses will need to play their part in ensuring their operations protect and preserve our oceans.

This means that companies that operate in Marine Protected Areas may face restrictions on fishing and infrastructure development. They will also need to have robust, evidence-based reporting and monitoring capabilities in place to mitigate their impact on nature, comply with regulations, and secure blue investment.

The Nature Positive Initiative is working with the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance and the World Economic Forum to consult on what marine metrics are needed to accurately and meaningfully measure nature positive progress in the ocean.

Karen Sack, Executive Director of the OCRRAA, said: “To unlock investment into ocean regeneration and sustainability, we need a common language of impact.”

Voluntary frameworks such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the Science-Based Target Network (SBTN) also continue to develop guidance around oceans.

In the lead-up to the conference, the TNFD released updated guidance for the fishing, marine transportation and cruise lines industries. The market-led initiative has also launched a discussion paper on the measurement of ocean-related issues that will inform corporate assessments and disclosures.

Meanwhile, the SBTN’s recently released Ocean targets featured in multiple events at the conference. Focused on the seafood value chain, it includes three science-based targets:

1. Avoid and Reduce Overexploitation
2. Protect Structural Habitats
3. Reduce Risks to Endangered, Threatened, and Protected (ETP) Marine Wildlife Populations

The targets are aligned with other frameworks and legislative disclosures, including the TNFD, the EU’s CSRD (and its associated ESRS reporting standards) and seafood certifications.

The SBTN says that future targets will expand into other ocean sectors and consider pressures such as habitat damage, pollution and species impacts.

The need for science-based solutions

While much work remains to be done, UNOC marks an important milestone towards a concerted international to protect and conserve our oceans.

It is also clear that there will be greater demand for nature data and science-based solutions to monitor and protect marine environments, as well as supporting ocean-related assessments and disclosures.

The UN has already stressed the importance of “evidence-based policymaking and the role of cutting-edge research, observation systems, and indigenous knowledge in shaping effective ocean governance.”

Benjamin Barca, Conservation and Impact Lead at NatureMetrics, said: “Financial tools and outcome-based bonds for marine environments will need the right data and methodologies in place to track impact and success.”

NatureMetrics’ Laura Plant added: “We have robust methods to collect data on the state of nature, allowing us to directly measure outcomes, not just inputs. There is no longer the excuse that ‘data is too difficult to get."

NatureMetrics can help organizations protect and restore marine environments

NatureMetrics can help forward-facing organizations understand their data – and turn marine metrics into measurable action.  Our solutions can help businesses operating in ocean environments by:

• Identifying high-priority areas for conservation efforts.
• Using eDNA technology to quickly and easily capture samples, enabling companies to identify more marine species while reducing personnel and vessel time
• Monitoring species of high that are highly vulnerable, as well as those with commercial value.
• Assessing whether protected areas are providing a safe space for complete food chains to thrive.
• Measuring pollution levels in marine ecosystems and tracking the recovery of invertebrate communities.

Hope for the future of our oceans

“The ocean community is a vibrant, exciting and urgently optimistic place to be,” says Dr Kat Bruce.

“We have all the solutions, we know what we need to do, and the ocean itself is our greatest ally in turning things around.

“We have a tantalizing opportunity to turn things around before it’s too late, in a way that also benefits communities and the economy. If we don’t take that chance, it’s not hyperbole to say that humanity is in trouble.”

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