UN Ocean Conference: “Human rights must be at the heart of ocean governance,” urges UN expert

GENEVA  — The Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, Astrid Puentes Riaño, today urged world leaders to anchor ocean policy in human rights.

“Human rights cannot be an afterthought,” said Puentes Riaño, ahead of the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) taking place in Nice, France, from 9 to 13 June. “Human rights must be the core of ocean governance and of every ocean pledge,” she said.

The Conference will culminate with the ‘Nice Ocean Action Plan,’ a political declaration accompanied by a registry of voluntary commitments from States, businesses and other stakeholders.

The Special Rapporteur called on all delegations to ensure the political declaration expressly includes human rights- and ecosystem-based approaches, and incorporates the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

“The Plan and its commitments must be firmly grounded in human rights and geared towards promoting ocean and marine conservation,” Puentes Riaño said.

She stressed that it requires clear alignment with efforts to phase out extractive practices that harm marine ecosystems, and a commitment to the precautionary principle — ensuring potential ocean damage is prevented, even without full scientific certainty regarding severe and irreversible damages, as in the context of activities such as deep-seabed mining and geoengineering.

“Commitments must also advance access to information, public participation and access to justice for everyone, including coastal communities, fisherfolk, Indigenous Peoples, people of African descent, women, children and youth, LGBTI, and people with disabilities,” the expert said.

In a recent report, the Special Rapporteur warned that ocean degradation is a human rights crisis. She urged the Ocean Conference to embed the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment at every level of decision making.

“Human rights obligations extend beyond States and include businesses, which must respect them in all ocean-related operations. They must implement rigorous human rights and environmental due diligence, systematically assessing and publicly reporting the impact of their activities,” the expert said.

On 3 April 2025, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a landmark resolution on the ocean and human rights. The Council encouraged States to consider the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in the Conference’s proceedings and outcomes, and to take these principles into account in the run-up to the UN Ocean Conference in Nice in 2025.

“Ocean issues are human rights issues, yet this connection is all too often overlooked in practice,” Puentes Riaño said. “We urgently need a fundamental shift in how these challenges are addressed and managed at every level of policy and decision-making.”