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Accelerating action for our oceans
GRID-Arendal at the United Nations Ocean Conference 2025
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As the international community convenes in Nice for the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC-3), GRID-Arendal is pleased to announce its delegation. Representing a diverse blend of in-house expertise and affiliated specialists, our team brings a deep commitment to advancing knowledge-based solutions for ocean sustainability.
Our delegation will contribute to official panels, high-level dialogues, and technical side events, supporting efforts to strengthen the science-policy interface, promote regional cooperation, and accelerate action under SDG 14.
Stay tuned for live updates and reflections from our team in Nice!
Steven Lutz – Blue Carbon and Fundraising Lead
Steven leads GRID-Arendal’s global portfolio on blue carbon, with a particular focus on the role of coastal ecosystems in climate mitigation and biodiversity. At UNOC3, he will engage on issues related to blue carbon governance, nature-based solutions, and implementation of high-integrity blue carbon markets.
Meet Steven at
SIDS DOCK-UNIDO Side Event - In the Margins of UNOC-3 on the Global Ocean Energy Alliance: “Critical Services SIDS Need from the Ocean to Achieve SDGs 7, 9, 13 and 14 and to Strengthen Economic and Physical Resilience to Climate Change”
- Date: 9 June 2025
- Time: 10:30-11:45 CET
- Venue: UNOC3 Conference Venue, Port Lympia, Blue Zone, Room 3
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Natalie Mangondo – Sustainable Finance for Nature Lead
Natalie contributes to GRID-Arendal’s work on sustainable finance, climate diplomacy, and the intersection of finance, biodiversity, and resilience. Her engagement at UNOC3 centres on the blue finance architecture, nature finance frameworks and mobilisation, and the transition to high-integrity investment systems for ocean and coastal ecosystems.
Meet Natalie at
- Session 1 – Using data for better adaptation planning – absorption capacity, usability and granularity
- Date: 5 June 2025
- Time: 14:30-15:45 CET
- Location: EDHEC Business School, Nice, France
- Registration (on-site and virtual): https://events.eib.org/event/Adaptation-Days/registration
Blue Economy and Finance Forum (BEFF):
- The Blue Economy and Finance Forum (BEFF) will showcase the key actors involved in developing the enabling environment that will allow investments in the millions and billions to make this blue transformation a reality.
- Date: 7 – 8 June 2025
- Location: Grimaldi Forum, Monaco
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Richard Dacosta – Senior Expert in Marine Governance (Consultant)
Working closely with GRID-Arendal, Richard provides technical input on ocean governance, marine protected areas, deepening African engagement, and environmental compliance. At UNOC3, he will focus on following the BBNJ Agreement and strengthening institutional pathways for equitable, science-informed governance of the high seas. He will also be supporting the promotion of IMPAC6, which will take place for the first time in Dakar, Senegal, with a strong focus on West Africa initiatives for stakeholder engagement, connected MPA networks and sustainable use of the ocean, including the high seas.
Meet Richard at:
Towards IMPAC6, West Africa initiatives for stakeholder engagement (TBC).
- This side-event presents MPA networks and sustainable use of the ocean, and will include the high seas Présidence de la République de Cabo Verde/PRCM - PRCM - Office Francais pour La Biodiversité (OFB), - DAMCP - Senegal, - DAPL – Mauritanie, - IBAP, Guinée Bissau, - BACOMAB, Mauritanie, - FFEM, - CBD Secretariat - Sustainable Ocean Initiative, - Abidjan Convention Secretariat, - World Bank – WACA, - Global Network of MPA Managers, RAMPAO, - MedPAN, - la Saison Bleue – and other partners.
- Date: 9 June 2025
- Time: 13.45 – 15.00 CET
- Location: Blue Zone
Examples of solidarity-based blue economy initiatives that contribute to ocean conservation and resilience (TBC).
This side event involes PRCM - OFB - PRCM/projects: Blue Bijagos (Blue Action Fund), Swimming in Dangerous Waters (Shark Conservation Fund), RESILAO - Resilience of West African Coastlines (FFEM), Survival of Marine Turtles (Hans Wilsdorf Foundation)
- Date: 11 June 2025
- Time: 11.00-12.00
- Location: Zone Green, Pavillon la Baleine
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Louise Lieberknecht – Senior Expert, Marine Sustainability (Consultant)
Louise collaborates with GRID-Arendal on integrated marine planning approaches and ecosystem-based management. Her contributions will highlight the role of cross-sectoral approaches for balancing development and conservation, and in supporting the design of inclusive and resilient ocean economies.
Meet Louise at
This event will explore how co-produced, transdisciplinary science and cross-sectoral ocean governance and cooperation, involving intergenerational and cross-scale multi-stakeholders, can drive effective conservation and sustainable use. High-level speakers and panelists will share concrete practices, insights, and partnerships bridging knowledge and action through illustrative examples.
- Date: 13 June 2025
- Time: 12.15-13.30
- Location: Blue Zone, Side Event Room 5
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Thomas Maes – Senior Scientist (Consultant)
As a trusted technical expert, Thomas supports GRID-Arendal’s work on pollution diagnostics and monitoring innovation. At UNOC3, he will share insights on source-to-sea tracking, microplastic analysis, and regional strategies to reduce the flow of marine litter into ocean systems.
Meet Thomas at
Integrated Marine Debris Observing System (IMDOS) Side-Event: Promoting Cooperation for the Global Observation of Marine Litter.
Official side-event of the 3rd UN Ocean Conference, co-hosted by the governments of France and Costa Rica.
- Date: 12 June 2025
- Time: 17.00 - 18.30pm
- Location: Mama Shelter Hotel in Nice, France
Building ambition to address plastic pollution
The high-level side event at the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference will discuss national activities, expectations for support for early actions, and enabling conditions to prepare for implementation of the prospective global plastics agreement.
- Date: 11 June 2025
- Time: 10:30 - 11:45am
- Location: Blue Zone (Room 1) - Quai Amiral Infernet
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GRID-Arendal’s Key Messages for the 10 Ocean Action Panels
The 2025 UN Ocean Conference marks a critical inflection point, midway through the Ocean Decade, with the Sustainable Development Goals fast approaching their 2030 deadline. It has never been more urgent to ground ocean action in evidence, cooperation, and long-term systems thinking with the financial resources to support this.
The themes of the Ocean Action Panels at UNOC-3 reflect an acute awareness that ocean governance cannot succeed through isolated interventions. We need integrated, evidence-based systems that connect ecosystem health, social resilience, and institutional coherence. Across these panels, a consistent thread emerges: the need to strengthen the foundations of ocean decision-making. Below are ten key messages in response to Ocean Action Panels of UNOC 2025. Each highlights critical considerations for strengthening ocean governance and ensuring the sustainable use of marine and coastal resources.
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1: Conserving, sustainably managing and restoring marine and coastal ecosystems, including deep-sea ecosystems
Marine ecosystems are foundational to planetary balance, human health and economic stability. Yet, they remain undervalued, financially, politically and socially. For thriving marine and human ecosystems, the IPBES transformative change strategies should form the basis for embedding management and restoration in national development plans. Coordination across coastal, shelf, and deep-sea ecosystems is essential for impact at scale.
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2: Increasing ocean-related scientific cooperation, knowledge, capacity-building, marine technology and education to strengthen the science-policy interface for ocean health
Scientific knowledge alone does not drive change. It must be translated, co-developed, and institutionally embedded to inform effective governance. This requires investment in regional platforms, such as Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans (RSCAPs), that facilitate interoperability, knowledge co-production, and equitable access to marine technology. Strengthening the science-policy interface should not be a tick-box exercise – it should be core to every successful marine management effort.
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3: Mobilizing finance for ocean actions in support of SDG 14
Mobilising finance for the ocean must move beyond isolated project funding toward building an integrated and high-integrity blue finance architecture. This includes coherent pipelines, regionally aligned investment frameworks, and transparent systems that enable both public and private actors to channel capital effectively. Blended finance, results-based mechanisms, and nature-based investments hold promise, but only if designed with equity, local ownership, and long-term governance in mind. Finance should not only flow to the ocean – it must be structured to serve it.
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4: Preventing and significantly reducing marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities
Marine pollution reduction cannot be achieved through ocean interventions alone. We must consistently apply a source-to-sea approach, with upstream interventions in urban planning, wastewater management, and product design. Accelerating progress will depend on linking pollution metrics with enforcement frameworks, and on regional mechanisms that align national action with transboundary impacts.
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5: Fostering sustainable fisheries management, including supporting small-scale fishers
Sustainable fisheries management requires a shift from reactive enforcement to anticipatory planning. This means integrating climate scenarios, improving data visibility across fleets and regions, and designing governance systems that reflect local realities, especially in small-scale fisheries. Market access, equity, and food security must be considered alongside ecological targets to ensure durable outcomes.
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6: Advancing sustainable ocean-based economies, sustainable maritime transport and coastal community resilience, leaving no one behind
A sustainable ocean economy is not just a matter of growth, it is also a matter of alignment. Maritime development must be planned with ecological thresholds, spatial constraints, and social equity in mind. Systems for anticipating climate shocks, managing blue infrastructure, and protecting labour rights must be strengthened, especially in fast-growing ocean sectors where regulatory capacity may lag behind investment.
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7: Leveraging ocean, climate and biodiversity interlinkages
Climate action and biodiversity protection must be pursued together, not through fragmented efforts. The ocean is one large ecosystem, where carbon cycling, ecosystem resilience, and species migration are strongly interlinked. Data integration, cross-sector governance, and regionally tailored monitoring systems are needed to navigate the complex trade-offs at this nexus and to support nature-based solutions that deliver multiple benefits.
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8: Promoting and supporting all forms of cooperation, especially at the regional and subregional level
Regional and subregional cooperation is where international ambition meets practical implementation. Ocean challenges are often transboundary by nature, and regional frameworks offer a critical mechanism to harmonise standards, share monitoring data, and align enforcement. These mechanisms must be empowered with consistent support, clear mandates, and inclusive processes that reflect scientific, indigenous, traditional and local knowledges.
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9: Promoting the role of sustainable food from the ocean for poverty eradication and food security
Aquatic foods must be recognised not just as commodities, but as components of national food systems and nutrition strategies. Policies must move beyond volume and export value to address accessibility, diversity, and sustainability. Achieving this will require investments in cold chains, equitable value chains, and governance structures that protect both ecological productivity and social access to culturally and nutritionally important foods.
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10: Enhancing the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources by implementing international law, as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
Delivering on the groundbreaking BBNJ Agreement requires a shared understanding of equitable governance at a global scale: how Indigenous peoples and local communities form part of decision-making; how strong international cooperation protects vital ecological corridors; and how to mobilise the systems, knowledge, and capacities needed to maintain the health of our one ocean. Many states face legal, technical, and institutional challenges in moving from commitment to ratification and implementation of the Agreement and its ‘package deal’. UNOC 2025 is a pivotal moment to support this transition.
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The 10 Ocean Action Panels
- Conserving, sustainably managing and restoring marine and coastal ecosystems, including deep-sea ecosystems
- Increasing ocean-related scientific cooperation, knowledge, capacity-building, marine technology and education to strengthen the science-policy interface for ocean health
- Mobilizing finance for ocean actions in support of SDG 14
- Preventing and significantly reducing marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities
- Fostering sustainable fisheries management, including supporting small-scale fishers
- Advancing sustainable ocean-based economies, sustainable maritime transport and coastal community resilience, leaving no one behind
- Leveraging ocean, climate and biodiversity interlinkages
- Promoting and supporting all forms of cooperation, especially at the regional and subregional level
- Promoting the role of sustainable food from the ocean for poverty eradication and food security
- Enhancing the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources by implementing international law, as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
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