THE world’s nations will gather in France next month to tackle what the United Nations says is a global emergency facing global oceans.

Conference secretary-general Li Junhua told reporters on Tuesday that he hopes the third UN Ocean Conference would not be another routine meeting but “the pivotal opportunity” to accelerate action and mobilise people in all sectors and across the world.

The conference aims to unite governments, scientists, businesses and civil society to take action and raise money to address these and other crises facing the oceans and the people who rely on them for their survival.

The conference, co-sponsored by France and Costa Rica, takes place in Nice from June 7 to June 13. 

It is expected to bring together more than 60 world leaders, dozens of ministers, about 4,000 government officials and 6,000 members of civil society, Mr Li told reporters.

Costa Rican UN ambassador Maritza Chan Valverde said accelerating action to conserve and use the ocean sustainably “means cutting decision-making time from years to months” and engaging all 193 UN member nations, more than 1,000 cities and over 500 corporations simultaneously.

“What is different this time around?” she said. “Zero rhetoric. Maximum results.”

Ms Valverde said she expected participants to make commitments totalling $100 billion (around £75bn) in new funding to address the crisis facing the oceans.

French UN ambassador Jerome Bonnafont said his country’s priorities for the conference included obtaining 60 ratifications of the treaty to protect biodiversity in the high seas, which was adopted in March 2023, so that it comes into force. 

The treaty’s mission is to ensure sustainable fishing, mobilise support to protect and conserve at least 30 per cent of the oceans’ waters, fight plastic pollution, “accelerate decarbonisation” of maritime transport and mobilise financing.

Conference participants are expected to adopt a declaration that says action is not advancing fast enough to address the impact of “the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

“We underscore the central role of a healthy and resilient ocean in sustaining life on Earth, ensuring global food security and supporting billions of lives,” the final draft says.

The United States said last week that it would consider selling leases to extract minerals from the seabed off the South Pacific island of American Samoa.

This could be the first step in a wider industry push to allow deep-sea mining, which environmentalists say could do irreparable harm to marine ecosystems.