Monsoon floods kill more than 700 in Pakistan, with heavy rains set to continue

© UNICEF/Vlad Sokhin

 

Children wade through a flooded canal in Pakistan, where this year’s monsoon rains have left many families without homes, safe water or schooling. (file photo)

   

By Vibhu Mishra

21 August 2025

 Climate and Environment

Heavy monsoon rains and flash floods have killed at least 739 people across Pakistan since late June, displacing thousands and destroying homes and crops, with more severe weather expected in the weeks ahead, according to UN agencies and national authorities. 

 

The National Disaster Management Authority has also reported 978 injuries and the destruction or damage of more than 2,400 houses, while over 1,000 livestock have been lost as of Thursday, 21 August.

Severe weather is forecast to continue into early September, raising the risk of further flooding, landslides and crop losses, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa hit hardest

The northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has borne the brunt of the disaster. 

Authorities declared a state of emergency in nine districts, including Buner, Shangla and Mansehra, after torrential rains between 15 and 19 August left 368 people dead, 182 injured and damaged more than 1,300 homes. Nearly 100 schools were also destroyed.

The international charity CARE said its teams found widespread devastation in Buner, where families reported homes and livelihoods swept away within minutes by torrents of floodwater carrying boulders and debris.

Children most affected

The toll on children has been particularly severe, with displacement, loss of schooling and limited access to safe water putting their health and well-being at grave risk. 

According to the UN Children’s Fund (UNJCEF), at least 21 children were among those killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 15 August.

Many schools have been destroyed or are now being used as temporary shelters, further restricting access to education and safe spaces.

Urban flooding in Karachi

In Sindh province, heavy rains on 19 August triggered urban flooding in Karachi – Pakistan’s largest city – where at least six people were killed in wall collapses and electrocutions. Rainfall reached up to 145 millimetres (about 5.75 inches) in parts of the city, inundating roads and leaving many neighbourhoods without power for hours.

The province of Punjab also suffered extensive flooding along the Indus and Chenab rivers, which has displaced more than 2,300 families and damaged cash crops across thousands of acres.

Scaling up support

Federal and provincial authorities are leading the response, having mobilized over 2,000 personnel for rescue and evacuation. In coordination with the UN and partners, they have dispatched key relief items, including food, tents and medical supplies to affected areas.

OCHA said it has deployed field coordinators to the hardest-hit districts and activated emergency mechanisms, including the release of funds from its regional humanitarian envelope for Pakistan – prioritising life-saving assistance in health, water, food security and shelter.

For its part, UNICEF has dispatched essential medicines and hygiene kits to affected districts. Each kit includes soap, water containers and other hygiene supplies to help prevent disease outbreaks.

Worrying trend

Pakistan has endured devastating monsoon seasons in recent years. In 2022, unprecedented floods killed more than 1,700 people, displaced millions, and caused an estimated $40 billion in economic losses.

Erratic and intensified rainfall patterns, amplified by climate change, are compounding the country’s vulnerability, threatening lives, livelihoods and long-term recovery across southern Asia. 

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Plastic pollution treaty talks adjourn, but countries want to ‘remain at the table’: UNEP chief

© UNDP

 

Plastic waste washes ashore in the Maldives archipelago.

   

15 August 2025

 Climate and Environment

The international push for consensus on a legally binding deal to end plastic pollution proved beyond the grasp of weary UN Member States meeting in Geneva on Friday, as they agreed to resume discussions at a future date.

“This has been a hard-fought 10 days against the backdrop of geopolitical complexities, economic challenges and multilateral strains,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). “However, one thing remains clear: despite these complexities, all countries clearly want to remain at the table.”   

‘Deep regret’: Guterres

Responding to news of the failure to reach agreement, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: “I deeply regret that, despite earnest efforts, negotiations to reach an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, concluded without achieving a consensus.

“I welcome the determination of Member States in continuing to work to beat plastic pollution and keep engaged in the process, united in purpose, to deliver the treaty the world needs to tackle this monumental challenge to people and the environment.”

Search for consensus continues

Speaking to media at the end of Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) talks at the UN in the Swiss city, Ms. Andersen emphasized how Member States had expressed a clear wish to continue engaging in the process, recognising their significant differences regarding plastic pollution.

“While we did not land the treaty text we hoped for, we at UNEP will continue the work against plastic pollution – pollution that is in our groundwater, in our soil, in our rivers, in our oceans and yes, in our bodies,” she said.

World view

“People are demanding a treaty,” the UN agency head continued, before underscoring the hard work that lies ahead to maintain the momentum needed to ink a binding international accord.

Delegates from 183 nations attested to the convening power and importance of the proposed agreement, with some Pacific island representatives - complete with dazzling fresh blooms in their hair - rubbing shoulders with other participants, drained by the final all-night negotiating session.

The resumed fifth session of talks – referred to as INC-5.2, after previous talks in Busan known as INC-5.1 – gathered more than 2,600 participants at the UN Palais des Nations. In addition to the approximately 1,400 country delegates, there were close to 1,000 observers representing at least 400 organizations.

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NGO voices heard

The session also involved the active participation of civil society – including Indigenous Peoples, waste pickers, artists, young people and scientists. They raised their voices through protests, art installations, press briefings and events in and around the Palace of Nations.

The goal of the negotiations was to agree on a text for the legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution “and highlight unresolved issues requiring further preparatory work ahead of a diplomatic conference”, UNEP said.

In addition to meetings together in UN Geneva’s vast assembly hall, four contact groups were created to tackle key issues including plastic design, chemicals of concern, production caps, finance and compliance instruments.

Despite “intensive engagement”, Members of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee was unable to reach consensus on the proposed texts, UNEP explained.

Chair's action call

“Failing to reach the goal we set for ourselves may bring sadness, even frustration. Yet it should not lead to discouragement. On the contrary, it should spur us to regain our energy, renew our commitments, and unite our aspirations,” said INC Chair, Luis Vayas Valdivieso.

“It has not happened yet in Geneva, but I have no doubt that the day will come when the international community will unite its will and join hands to protect our environment and safeguard the health of our people.” 

The INC process began in March 2022 when the UN Environment Assembly passed resolution 5.2 to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.   

“As this session concludes, we leave with an understanding of the challenges ahead and a renewed and shared commitment to address them,” said Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, Executive Secretary of the INC Secretariat. “Progress must now be our obligation.”  

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Deadly floods show need for faster, wider warnings, UN agency says

© WMO/Teguh Prihatna

 

A man helps a woman after her car is stranded in waist-deep water. Globally rains are being more extreme due to impacts of climate change.

   

By Vibhu Mishra

21 July 2025 

Climate and Environment

From the Himalayas to rural Texas, deadly floods this month have killed hundreds and exposed dangerous gaps in early warning systems, the UN’s weather agency warned, linking the devastation to rapid urbanization, land-use change and a warming climate that traps more moisture in the atmosphere.

The UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday that more intense downpours and glacier outburst floods are becoming increasingly frequent, with deadly consequences for communities caught off guard.

“Flash floods are not new, but their frequency and intensity are increasing in many regions due to rapid urbanization, land-use change and a changing climate,” said Stefan Uhlenbrook, WMO Director of Hydrology, Water and Cryosphere.

Each additional degree Celsius of warming enables the air to hold about 7 per cent more water vapour.

“This is increasing the risk of more extreme rainfall events. At the same time, glacier-related flood hazards are increasing due to enhanced ice melting in a warmer climate,” he added.

Thousands of lives lost every year

Floods and flash floods claim thousands of lives each year and cause billions of dollars in damage. In 2020, severe flooding across South Asia killed more than 6,500 people and caused $105 billion in economic losses.

Two years later, catastrophic floods in Pakistan left over 1,700 people dead, 33 million affected and losses exceeding $40 billion, reversing years of development gains.

This year, the onslaught has continued. In July alone, South Asia, East Asia and the United States have seen a string of deadly events, from monsoon rains to glacial lake bursts and sudden flash floods.

© WMO/Arya Manggala

 

Each year, extreme weather and climate events take a massive toll on lives and economies worldwide.

Asia reels from monsoon onslaught

In India and Pakistan, heavy monsoon rains have severed transport links, washed away homes and triggered landslides. Pakistan declared a state of emergency in its worst-hit areas, deploying military helicopters for rescue missions after forecasters warned of exceptional flood risk along the upper Jhelum River.

The Republic of Korea suffered record-breaking downpours between 16-20 July, with rainfall exceeding 115 mm per hour in some locations. At least 18 people were killed and more than 13,000 were evacuated.

In southern China, authorities issued flash flood and landslide alerts on 21 July, just a day after Typhoon Wipha battered Hong Kong, underscoring the compound risks of sequential storms.

Texas flash flood strikes overnight

Overnight 3 into 4 July, a sudden deluge turned Texas Hill Country into a disaster zone, killing more than 100 people and leaving dozens missing. In a few hours, 10-18 inches (25–46 cm) of rain swamped the Guadalupe River basin, sending the river surging 26 feet (8 metres) in just 45 minutes.

© NASA

 

1-day precipitation totals from NASA’s IMERG multi-satellite precipitation product show heavy rainfall over central Texas on July 4, 2025.

Many of the victims were young girls at a summer camp, caught unaware as floodwaters tore through sleeping quarters around 4 AM. Although the US National Weather Service issued warnings ahead of time, local sirens were lacking and the final alerts came when most were asleep.

Glacier outburst floods surge

Not all floods this month were caused by rain.

In Nepal’s Rasuwa district, a sudden outburst from a supraglacial lake – formed on a glacier’s surface – swept away hydropower plants, a major bridge and trade routes on 7 July. At least 11 people were killed and more than a dozen are reported missing.

Scientists at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), a WMO partner, say glacial-origin floods in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region are occurring far more often than two decades ago, when one might strike every five to 10 years.

In May and June 2025 alone, three glacial outburst floods hit Nepal, Afghanistan and Pakistan, with two more in Nepal on 7 July. If warming continues, the risk of such floods could triple by the century’s end.

© UNICEF

 

Aftermath of a flood that swept through a high-altitude village in Nepal.

Closing the warning gap

The WMO is stepping up efforts to improve flood forecasting through its global initiative and real-time guidance platform, now used in over 70 countries.

The system integrates satellite data, radar and high-resolution weather models to flag threats hours in advance and is being expanded into a country-led, globally interoperable framework.

A 2022 World Bank study estimated that 1.81 billion people – nearly a quarter of the world’s population – are directly exposed to 1-in-100-year flood events, with 89 per cent living in low- and middle-income countries.

The UN’s Early Warnings for All initiative aims to ensure that everyone, everywhere, is protected by early warning systems by 2027.

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Overlooked and underestimated: Sand and dust storms wreak havoc across borders

UN Photo/Marco Dormino

 

Children run from an approaching sand storm in Gao, Mali.

   

10 July 2025 

Climate and Environment

There are three Great Pyramids at Giza in Egypt - but imagine if there were 307 of the mighty edifices. And then imagine that they had dissolved into over two billion tons of sand and dust particles. 

That’s how much sand and dust enters the atmosphere on an annual basis according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)’s annual report on the storms which scatter such particles across borders worldwide.

The UN weather agency’s reports warns that while the amount of dust decreased marginally in 2024, the impact on humans and economies is increasing.

WMO estimates that over 330 million people across 150 countries are affected by sand and dust storms, leading to premature deaths and other health consequences in addition to steep economic costs.

More than just a dark sky 

“Sand and dust storms do not just mean dirty windows and hazy skies. They harm the health and quality of life of millions of people and cost many millions of dollars,” said Celeste Saulo, the Secretary-General of WMO.

While the movement of sand and dust is a natural weather process, increased land degradation and water mismanagement have, in the past few decades, exacerbated the prevalence and geographic spread.

Dust and sand particles – 80 per cent of which come from North Africa and the Middle East – can be transported thousands of kilometres across borders and oceans.

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“What begins in a storm in the Sahara, can darken skies in Europe. What is lifted in Central Asia, can alter air quality in China. The atmosphere does not recognize borders,” said Sara Basart, WMO Scientific Officer, at a briefing in Geneva.

And this is precisely what happened in 2024. Dust and sand from the Western Sahara travelled all the way to Spain’s Canary Islands. And fierce winds and drought in Mongolia brought dust to Beijing and northern China.

Fast-growing challenge

“These extreme weather events are not local anomalies. Sand and dust storms are fast becoming one of the most overlooked yet far-reaching global challenges of our time,” said a senior official on Thursday morning speaking on behalf of Philémon Yang, President of the General Assembly.

The storms can obscure sunlight, altering ecosystems on land and in the ocean. In addition to environmental impacts, these weather occurrences have profound impacts on humans and their economies.

“Once considered seasonal or localised, sand and dust storms have escalated into a persistent and intensifying global hazard,” said Rola Dashti, the co-chair of the UN Coalition on Combating Sand and Dust Storms.

Between 2018-2022, over 3.8 billion people were exposed to dust particles, with the worst-affected regions experiencing dust exposure 87 per cent of the time during that same period.

These particles exacerbate cardiovascular diseases and have other adverse health effects, leading to 7 million premature deaths each year especially among already vulnerable populations.

Mr. Yang referred to this as the “staggering human toll”: from an economic perspective, storms can lead to a 20 per cent reduction in crop production among rural communities, pushing them towards hunger and poverty.

In the Middle East and North Africa alone, economic losses in 2024 as a result of sand and dust storms accounted for 2.5 per cent of the regional GDP.

Can’t go it alone

WMO is calling on the international community to invest more in early warning systems and data tracking.

“No country, no matter how prepared, can face this challenge alone. Sand and dust storms are a trans-boundary threat that demands coordinated, multisectoral and multilateral action,” said Ms. Dashti.

With 2025-2034 declared the Decade on Combating Sand and Dust Storms, Mr. Yang said this should prove a turning point. He urged Member States to move from awareness to action – and fragmentation to coordination.

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Конференция ООН в Севилье: новая надежда на достижение Целей устойчивого развития

Служба новостей ООН/M. Уэллс

 

Конференция в Севилье завершила свою работу.

   

3 июля 2025

 Экономическое развитие

Четвертая международная конференция по финансированию развития завершилась сегодня в Севилье, Испания, с конкретными шагами по преобразованию амбиций в реальные действия. Более 130 инициатив, запущенных за четыре дня, призваны превратить принятое странами-участницами Севильское соглашение в эффективную платформу по преодолению финансового кризиса и ускорению достижения Целей устойчивого развития (ЦУР).

Принятые на конференции решения обозначают конкретные шаги по сокращению дефицита финансирования ЦУР, который в развивающихся странах составляет около 4 триллионов долларов в год.

В форуме приняли участие более 15 тысяч человек, включая почти 60 глав государств и правительств. Было проведено более 470 параллельных и специальных мероприятий, включая Международный бизнес-форум и Ярмарку инвестиций в ЦУР.

Решительный ответ на кризис

«Последствия растущих долговых обязательств, обостряющихся торговых разногласий и резкого сокращения официальной помощи на цели развития стали предельно очевидны на этой неделе, – заявила в своем заключительном выступлении первый заместитель Генерального секретаря ООН Амина Мохаммед.  – И все же, несмотря на эту тревожную картину, конференция в Севилье дала решительный ответ – объединяющий итоговый документ, сосредоточенный на конкретных решениях, который подтверждает обязательства, принятые в Аддис-Абебе десять лет назад, возрождает надежду на достижение ЦУР и доказывает, что многостороннее сотрудничество все еще важно и эффективно».

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ИНТЕРВЬЮ | Севильское соглашение: без развития не может быть безопасности

По словам Генерального секретаря конференции и Заместителя Генерального секретаря ООН по экономическим и социальным вопросам Ли Цзюньхуа, конференция в Севилье продемонстрировала способность ООН не только служить пространством для диалога, но и становиться платформой для реальных решений.

Севильское соглашение стало первым с 2015 года межправительственным соглашением по вопросам финансирования развития. Оно обозначает три ключевых направления дальнейших действий: масштабное привлечение инвестиций в устойчивое развитие, решение долгового и финансового кризиса в странах с низким и средним уровнем дохода, а также глубокую реформу международной финансовой системы.

Инновационные механизмы финансирования

В рамках Севильской платформы действий были представлены многочисленные инициативы, охватывающие широкий спектр задач. Среди них – новые механизмы обмена долговых обязательств на инвестиции в развитие, налоговые инициативы, направленные на увеличение поступлений от сверхбогатых и от премиальных форм потребления, платформы для технической помощи и содействие в подготовке проектов, а также меры по расширению кредитования в национальных валютах.

В частности, была учреждена международная коалиция по включению «пунктов приостановки» в кредитные соглашения, позволяющих временно приостановить обслуживание долга во время кризисов. Также было объявлено о формировании Севильского форума по вопросам долга, который будет координировать усилия стран в управлении и реструктуризации долга.

Для стимулирования притока инвестиций в устойчивое развитие было представлено несколько новых решений. Особое внимание было уделено развитию национальных платформ финансирования, выстраиваемых на основе стратегий, сформированных самими странами, а также механизмам по расширению доступа к превентивному финансированию на случай чрезвычайных ситуаций.

Вклад частного сектора

Впервые на полях конференции прошел Международный бизнес-форум, в рамках которого частный сектор выразил готовность активнее участвовать в достижении ЦУР. Его участники представили практические решения по привлечению капитала к реализации целей, особенно в развивающихся странах, через политические диалоги высокого уровня, сессии по инновациям и лучшим практикам, а также тематические круглые столы.

В ходе Ярмарки инвестиций в ЦУР развивающиеся страны представили инвесторам и международным финансовым организациям проекты на общую сумму более 10 миллиардов долларов.

Ключевые результаты

На фоне растущих глобальных вызовов конференция в Севилье стала важным сигналом: международное сообщество по-прежнему способно находить общий язык и предпринимать коллективные шаги ради устойчивого будущего для всех. Среди ключевых инициатив:

Для решения долговых проблем

• Центр обмена долга на развитие (Debt Swaps for Development Hub), при поддержке Испании и Всемирного банка, для усиления потенциала и масштабирования программ по обмену долга;
• Программа обмена долга на развитие от Италии на сумму 230 миллионов евро, направленная на инвестирование в проекты в африканских странах;
• Альянс по введению «пунктов приостановки платежей» (Debt “Pause Clause” Alliance), в рамках которого страны-доноры и многосторонние банки развития (Канада, Франция, Испания, Великобритания, Межамериканский банк развития, Европейский инвестиционный банк, Африканский банк развития, Азиатский банк развития и Банк развития Латинской Америки и Карибского бассейна) договорились включать в кредиты положения о приостановке платежей в случае кризиса;
• Форум по вопросам долга — площадка для обмена опытом и координации усилий стран в управлении и реструктуризации долга, при секретариате одной из структур ООН и при поддержке Испании.

Для стимулирования инвестиций с социальным эффектом

• Коалиция за глобальные налоги солидарности, возглавляемая Францией, Кенией и Барбадосом (при поддержке Бенина, Сомали, Замбии и Испании), выступила с инициативой обложить налогами полеты бизнес-класса и частные самолеты для финансирования климатических инициатив и устойчивого развития;
• Платформа смешанного финансирования SCALED, при участии стран (Германия, Канада, Франция, Великобритания, Дания, Южная Африка) и финансовых институтов (Allianz, AXA SA, CDPQ, Zurich Insurance Group), для масштабирования и репликации эффективных моделей смешанного финансирования;
• Новый инструментарий FX EDGE от многосторонних банков развития по управлению валютными рисками, а также платформа Delta от Европейского банка реконструкции и развития для поддержки кредитования в местной валюте;
• Инициатива по эффективному налогообложению состоятельных лиц, во главе с Бразилией и Испанией, для обеспечения справедливого налогообложения;
• Центр технической поддержки от государственных банков развития (во главе с Finance in Common и IDFC), а также объединенная платформа МБР для подготовки проектов, координируемая Азиатским инфраструктурным инвестиционным банком.

Для реформы финансовой архитектуры на национальном и глобальном уровнях

• Новое поколение национальных платформ с государственным управлением финансированием, при поддержке стран (включая ЮАР и Египет), Фонда интегрированных национальных финансовых стратегий и банков развития;
• Коалиция под руководством Великобритании и проекта Bridgetown Initiative по увеличению доли заранее подготовленного финансирования в случае стихийных бедствий с 2 до 20 процентов к 2035 году

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Электросети стран Балтии отключат от энергосистем России

20 июня 2019, 22:13




© Фото ИА «Росбалт», Иван Шалёв


Страны Балтии и ЕС отключатся от энергосистемы России к 2025 году. Соответствующий план утвердили Латвия, Литва, Эстония и Польша, а также председатель Еврокомиссии Жан-Клод Юнкер, говорится в сообщении на сайте ЕК.

Уточняется, что подписана дорожная карта синхронизации электросетей с Континентальной европейской сетью. В тексте отмечается, что Балтийский регион связан с европейскими партнерами через линии электропередач, но энергосистема Балтийских стран по-прежнему работает в синхронном режиме с российской и белорусской.

Так, согласно договору, подписанному в 2001 году, энергетические системы Прибалтики работают в синхронном режиме кольца БРЭЛЛ (Белоруссия, Россия, Эстония, Латвия и Литва).


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Humans can't survive without a healthy Ocean: UN

Humans can't survive without a healthy Ocean: UN envoy

© Nicolas Hahn

 

A Diamond Stingray and a one-eyed Porcupine fish search for a meal in the sand as hundreds of Big Eye Jacks school behind them.

   

By Conor Lennon

6 June 2025 Climate and Environment

The Ocean is in deep crisis. Factors such as acidification, declining fish stocks, rising temperatures and widespread pollution are contributing to a catastrophic decline in biodiversity: over half of marine species are at risk of extinction this century.

The urgent need to restore the Ocean will be the focus of a major international conference taking place in Nice, France, this June. This will be the first UN Ocean Conference since the adoption of a legal agreement for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity and the protection of life in the Ocean will be a key topic.

Peter Thompson, the Secretary General's Envoy for the Ocean, Alfredo Giron, Head of the Ocean Action Agenda at the World Economic Forum (WEF), and Minna Epps, who runs the Ocean Program at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), spoke to UN News ahead of the Conference, to talk about UN-led initiatives designed to protect marine biodiversity.

UN News: How serious is the marine biodiversity crisis?

IUCN

Minna Epps: We’re in really dire straits. If we don't protect and restore the Ocean this is going to have devastating consequences for all those services that we are dependent on. The entire climate is dependent on the Ocean as a climate regulator. However, we don't want the Ocean to absorb more carbon dioxide, because that's what makes it acidic, so we need to start by cutting emissions.

If you are in an airplane and you fly over a forest, you can see deforestation, that a habitat has been lost. The same thing is happening in the Ocean, but we can't really see it. Another effect of climate change is marine heat waves, when water temperature increases over an extended period. A marine heat wave in Panama wiped out around 75 per cent of coral diversity.

Or take coral reefs. These make up less than one per cent of the Ocean, but almost 25 per cent of marine species depend on them. Reefs also protect against storm surges and extreme weather events.

Peter Thomson: Fossil fuels are causing man-made global warming, which is heating the Ocean at an alarming rate, which is causing changes in ecosystems, rising sea levels and the death of coral.

Colombian Environment Ministry

 

Divers pose with transplanted corals and a 'One Million Corals for Colombia' sign, the name of the biggest ocean restoration project in Latin-America.

How can Homo sapiens survive on a healthy planet if you don't have a healthy Ocean? And how can you have a healthy Ocean if you don't have a coral in it? So, my message is, leave fossil fuels in the ground. Get as fast as we can to an electrified world, an equitably electrified world powered by renewable energy.

Alfredo Giron: So many things in our daily lives depend on the Ocean. How we eat, how we move and transport goods. Your Amazon delivery package probably went on a ship at some point in the supply chain. How we power our activities: offshore wind is the fastest expanding renewable energy source today. Or how we communicate: the deep-sea cables that we depend on for so many transactions are having an impact on marine biodiversity.

UN News: What is the 30x30 biodiversity initiative and how could it help to restore the Ocean?

WEF

Alfredo Giron: 30x30 is about protecting and restoring thirty percent of the Ocean and of land by 2030. Many countries that have stepped up and achieved their targets of protecting thirty per cent of their national waters. And we finally have the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, the High Seas Treaty, which is giving us, for the first time, the legal instruments to actually protect waters that are outside of national jurisdictions.

We have protected close to ten percent of the Ocean at this point. So, as we go into the last five years of the decade, the important question that we should be asking ourselves is, how are we going to protect that other 20 per cent? Do we have the right instruments? Do we have the right incentives? Do we have the right amount of money and ambition to achieve it?

Peter Thomson: The best of our scientists told us that if we don’t protect 30 per cent of the planet by 2030, we are going to begin seeing a great cascading away of species on this planet and extinctions, including the extinction of Homo sapiens.

That's why this 30 per cent protection assumes such great importance, and the Ocean community stood up and committed to protecting 30 per cent of the Ocean. Whether we get there or not is a big question, but at least we're going to have a plan to get there.

UN News: This is the first UN Ocean Conference since the adoption of the High Seas Treaty. Why is this important?

UN Global Compact/Elma Okic

Peter Thomson: The Treaty brings in a multilateral regime for the exploitation of genetic resources and sharing technology. We are very hopeful that, by the time of the UN Ocean Conference, we will have got the sixty ratifications required for the Treaty to come into force.

Equally important to me are the World Trade Organisation Harmful Fisheries Subsidies. We are very close to an agreement. This is about up to $30 billion of public money funding industrial fleets each year, to go out and chase diminishing stocks of fish.

It is human madness. That money should be going towards the development of coastal communities or adaptation to sea level rise, rather than subsidizing industrial fishing fleets.

© UN Indonesia/M. Gaspar

 

Women on the remote island of Bianci, Southwest Papua, have doubled their income by moving from selling raw fish to selling fish-based products.

UN News: What role should the private sector play in the protection of the Ocean?

Alfredo Giron: It is not enough to think about sustainable use. Now we need to think about regeneration. For example, if you install an offshore wind farm, can you make sure that you use the right materials so that you can build a coral reef around it? Or, if you build a new port, can you use mangroves to protect and stabilise the coastline, while making sure that the waves are not as strong and that the ships can interact more easily with the port itself?

If we stop thinking about the private sector as the flip side of conservation but rather as one more stakeholder that will really benefit from a healthy Ocean, then we start unlocking a lot of opportunities. The WEF is partnering with the UN to bring in the private sector and help them to navigate and understand what is going on in this space.

Minna Epps: We also must stop thinking about the private sector as a homogenous group, and distinguish between the big corporations that we can we need to work with, and the small to medium enterprises that we need to invest in.

We want this conference to be a game changer. We are focusing on initiatives such as the International Panel of Ocean Sustainability, which is gathering both scientific and Indigenous knowledge. Then there is finance: how do we move the needle in a decisive manner? Because without that happening, the conference will not have a strong legacy. 

https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/06/1163771

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