June 6, 2025

Ocean science – a backgrounder in advance of UNOC-3

The third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) took place in Nice from 9-13 June. With the help of the international Science Council (ISC) and the UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC), we put together this briefing a few days in advance of the conference. 

This was a background briefing about as many aspects of ocean science as we could pack in, for journalists who planned to cover the conference or who just wanted to find out more about the current state of the evidence on the ocean.

Things covered included sea level rise, ocean governance, ecosystems, ocean and climate ocean dynamics, pollution, protected areas, deep sea mining, overfishing and ocean acidification. The specialist areas are detailed alongside each of the speakers below.

Speakers included:

Dr Andrew Matthews, Technical lead of the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level at the National Oceanography Centre – Andrew can cover sea level rise

Prof Sabrina Speich, Member of the International Science Council (ISC) Expert Group on the Ocean, and Professor of Oceanography and Climate Sciences at Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris – Sabrina can cover marine heatwaves, ocean dynamics and variability, role of the ocean in climate, air-sea interactions, ocean dynamics shaping ecosystems, extreme events, global ocean and climate observing systems

Prof Peter Haugan, Co-chair of the ISC Expert Group on the Ocean, Policy Director of the Institute of Marine Research in Norway, and Professor at the Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen – Peter can cover international ocean governance

Prof Rashid Sumaila, Member of the ISC Expert Group on the Ocean and Canada Research Chair in Interdisciplinary Ocean and Fisheries Economics at the University of British Columbia in Canada – Rashid can cover plastic pollution, protected areas, deep sea mining and overfishing

Prof Helen Findlay, Biological Oceanographer at Plymouth Marine Laboratory – Helen can cover ocean acidification