More than 50 heads of state and government confirmed their attendance at the forum, which will run until Friday and was co-organized by France and Costa Rica.
A delegation from 187 countries and representatives from the scientific community, civil society, and the private sector will attend the event, amid warnings about the lack of investment, overexploitation, and insufficient data sharing and mapping of the seabed.
Highlighted among the goals of the Nice Conference is the mobilization of financing to establish new projects for the protection and sustainable management of the oceans, in line with Goal 14 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The event follows similar ones held in New York in 2017 and Lisbon in 2022.
Regarding the conference, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) called on the international community to mobilize unprecedented scientific research to boost oceanographic research. “Despite the efforts made in recent years, we know the ocean floor less well than the craters of the Moon,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.
Proposals include equipping 10,000 commercial ships with tools to capture and transmit real-time information about the oceans.
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