Our week at the UN Ocean Conference

Our first day at the UN Ocean Conference was filled with inspiring conversations and practical ideas to support ocean recovery.

We co-hosted an ocean literacy event with the Welsh and Canadian Governments, exploring how national strategies can help embed ocean knowledge into education, policy, and public life.

Sessions on blue finance highlighted the importance of funding models that directly support communities - from funding for training for marine tourism jobs to creating long-term charitable frameworks. These insights are especially relevant to our UK Overseas Territories work.

Our parliamentary affairs team reconnected with MPs to talk about our priorities for the ocean. Meanwhile, policy teams shared knowledge on ocean acidification and building resilience to climate change - a growing priority in all our work.

We ended the day with our Seas At Risk coalition partners, reflecting on the UK Government’s new consultation on banning bottom towed fishing in 41 offshore Marine Protected Areas - something we’ve long supported. We also exchanged ideas on tackling forever chemicals - another ask we’re campaigning for.

A great start to the week - we’re looking forward to sharing more highlights and insights as the week unfolds.

On day two, we gained access to a larger area of the conference, giving us the opportunity to attend the plenary meetings - where global decision-makers make commitments on the world stage that can shape the future of our ocean.

A major highlight came from the UK: Emma Hardy, Minister for Water and Flooding, announced that the UK Government will ratify the High Seas Treaty before the end of this year. This is a crucial step forward and one of our key asks of the UK Government at this conference. The Treaty, once ratified by enough countries, will safeguard vast areas of international waters from activities that can be damaging such as deep-sea mining and bottom-towed fishing.

While we're delighted by this commitment, we urge the UK Government to move swiftly and follow the recommendations of the Environmental Audit Committee to ensure the Treaty is ratified without delay.

Elsewhere at the conference, our team engaged with ministers from Denmark and Sweden on the issue of vessel discharges and held valuable discussions with European partners focused on strengthening protections in the North-East Atlantic.

We also attended sessions on marine pollution, heard the UK speak on blue finance and its role as a donor, and witnessed the UK Government sign a pledge to advance Ocean Accounts by 2030 - a promising move towards more transparent and effective ocean management.

The day wrapped up with energising conversations among fellow UK marine charities. The atmosphere was one of collaboration and ocean optimism.

Day three at the UN Ocean Conference began with a welcome focus on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Emma Hardy MP spoke at an event highlighting the importance of MPAs in restoring ocean health - a timely reminder of the need for strong protections to safeguard marine biodiversity.

The team attended a session on transparency in fisheries, with particular emphasis on tackling illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. This remains a major challenge to effective ocean governance, and it was encouraging to see international momentum building around greater accountability in the seafood sector.

However, much of the day was overshadowed by news from Westminster, where the UK Government unveiled its Spending Review. Despite being described as a “historic investment in nature,” marine conservation was entirely absent both in UK waters and across globally important programmes like the Blue Belt and Darwin Plus.

To restore our seas, and secure the benefits they provide to our ocean, we must invest. The UK Government should be setting an example - instead, warm words about nature’s recovery ring hollow when ocean conservation is left out of the conversation.

Members of the team engaged directly with UK political representatives to raise concern over the omission, urging a renewed and strengthened commitment to protecting marine environments.

This news lands in the middle of a major global ocean summit and sends a worrying signal. We urge the UK Government to reaffirm and scale up its support for ocean protection without delay. Our seas, and the communities that depend on them, cannot afford to be left behind.

The day started with more discussions on blue finance, talking about it’s importance in achieving global commitments to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030.

This afternoon we ran a virtual UN Ocean Conference event with colleagues back in the UK: Amplifying Best Practice in the Caribbean UK Overseas Territories.

We were joined by representatives from the Turks and Caicos and Cayman Islands Governments as well as Veta Wade, CEO of Fish’n’Fins, a non-profit organisation based in Montserrat and our own Amdeep Sanghera, UK Overseas Territories Conservation Manager at the Marine Conservation Society. It was a powerful and timely conversation highlighting the incredible work being done on the ground through the Darwin Plus programme and the UK Blue Belt initiative.

In the same week the UK Government’s spending review failed to mention the ocean, it was more important than ever to raise awareness and amplify the success of these vital conservation efforts.

Our event wrapped up our very successful week at the UN Ocean Conference. With loads to take away, we will be working harder than ever to protect our seas.