The UN Ocean Conference 2025
As “the world” gathers in Nice this week for the UN Ocean Conference 2025, it is perhaps a good time to pause and reflect on just why there is such a thing as an ocean conference.
Last week I was privileged to be invited by the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health to a screening of David Attenborough’s new documentary, simply titled “Ocean”. That dude just never gives up – nearly 100 years old, still broadcasting, still incredibly passionate…a real throw back to my childhood, when he was staple fare for the family’s viewing.
The Ocean documentary by David Attenborough
A Movie in 3 Acts
The documentary was basically in three parts. It started off talking about the beauty of the ocean, the variety of life found there, and how much we benefit from it. He documented an absolutely incredible series of stats – oceans absorb most of the CO2 we produce, we know more about the surface of the moon than we do the ocean…and my personal favourite: the ocean produces most of the oxygen we breathe…if you need no other reason to believe in the need for a healthy ocean, that’s it right there.
Then it moved on to the less savoury topic of what we are doing to this life-supporting resource – with brutal clarity. Shot after shot – footage of the impact of bottom trawling, a row of sharks hanging from long-lines disappearing into the distance, pollution spewing from pipes…awful!
But in true style, he rallied, and the third part was a showcase of some solutions that are producing amazing results – from small scale access to fishing rights up to large scale Marine Protected Areas that are helping species recover from near extinction.
TMCG removing ghost net in Tioman
Key Takeaways From the 'Ocean' Documentary?
Obvious.
We are slowly destroying a resource that keeps us alive. Pretty simple, really…but then, like all endeavours that involve humans, it really isn’t.
As I sat watching it, my reaction was often, “yeah, we know that”…and “yeah, we know that, too”…and “yup, we know that works”…
…and yet here we are, knowing something is going horribly wrong, knowing what we can do about it…but not doing it. Why is that?
Which I guess answers my question of why we need an ocean conference…coz, duhhh.
Global problem
One of the biggest problems with the ocean is that most of it is beyond the jurisdiction of nation states, with governance fragmented and inefficient.
These areas beyond national jurisdiction comprise the “High Seas”, which makes up about two-thirds of the ocean (see map 1) with no effective management or conservation.
Ooops.
International waters are the areas shown in dark blue in this map, i.e. outside exclusive economic zones (EEZ), which are in light blue
Enter the High Seas Treaty
The Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (to give it its full name!!) or BBNJ Agreement, also referred to by some stakeholders as the High Seas Treaty or Global Ocean Treaty.
The High Seas Treaty is a legally binding instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction.
It’s one of those complicated UN deals whereby a treaty is created under an existing agreement (in this case UNCLOS) and only comes into effect after a certain number of countries have ratified it (UNCLOS itself took about 12 years to ratify after it was adopted!!).
Currently:
134 countries have signed the treaty, marking their commitment to ratifying it;
to date, 49 countries have ratified it,
with 60 needed before the treaty becomes international law.
Malaysia hasn’t ratified the treaty, but we're hopeful it will happen soon.
Local Problems...
So how does all this relate to the problems we have on our own doorstep? While Malaysia should support international initiatives such as the High Seas Treaty, there are plenty of local ocean-related issues to deal with.
This article talks about some of the challenges arising from climate change, and is one example of a growing awareness of the convergence of climate change, biodiversity loss, coastal development and impacts on food security and jobs.
And then there’s tourism.
Yeah, I know, I’ve talked about tourism before. Yeah, I know, it creates lots of jobs. Yeah, I know – it’s a big chunk of Malaysia’s GDP…but perhaps this video taken a couple of weeks ago in Redang Island, Malaysia, indicates that perhaps something is out of balance.
…Need Local Solutions
So, we are continuing to support the CMCGs that we have helped get set up.
In Selakan Island, Sabah, local community representatives are now recognised by Sabah Parks as honorary wardens; in Larapan Island, we are helping the community to develop a Community Protocol which, if successful, would give them legal rights to protect their marine resources; and in Redang, local islanders got together with Marine Parks authorities to improve turtle conservation. Check out the CMCG Annual Summary Report 2024 to see the work our CMCGs have done.
It all goes to show that local participation is key in marine resource management, something we are keen to support wherever we can.
But don’t believe me; go watch the movie.
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