DAILY TRIFECTA: Oceans Expose The Gulf Between America And The World
We're taking the whole damn planet with us
THE SET-UP: The 2025 UN Ocean Conference is underway in Nice, France. Not a bad place to pore over a lot of bad news about Earth’s oceans. Also not a bad place to come together with human beings who depend upon oceans for their survival. Maybe attendees could even do something to arrest the problems before those problems become unsolvable?
Maybe.
Or maybe not if you are President Donald Trump and you don’t give a damn about the health of the oceans, let alone taking responsibility for the United States’ disproportionate role in generating plastic and pumping out climate pollution and oil extraction from offshore drilling. Because Trump refuses to participate, his regime is only sending “observers” to keep tabs on it. Trump’s specific objection to actually participating is, according to Bloomberg, “the conference’s focus on a UN goal centered around the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and marine resources.”
“Conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and marine resources”?
Sounds like communism! Or worse!
Here’s their objection, per Bloomberg:
“Agenda 2030 and the SDGs advance a program of soft global governance that is inconsistent with US sovereignty and adverse to the rights and interests of Americans,” Edward Heartney, a State Department diplomat, told a General Assembly meeting in March.
Okay, Ed.
We’ll look at the goals as laid out by the UN … specifically Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG14), which is what the conference will be working on while a couple US observers sit on the sidelines and pretend like the United States can opt-out of ecosystems that are, according to too many stories to list here, declining faster than previously thought. - jp
TITLE: Goals 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal14#targets_and_indicators
EXCERPT:
Target
14.1
By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution
Target
14.2
By 2020, sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts, including by strengthening their resilience, and take action for their restoration in order to achieve healthy and productive oceans
Target
14.3
Minimize and address the impacts of ocean acidification, including through enhanced scientific cooperation at all levels
Target
14.4
By 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics
Target
14.5
By 2020, conserve at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas, consistent with national and international law and based on the best available scientific information
Target
14.6
By 2020, prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and refrain from introducing new such subsidies, recognizing that appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries should be an integral part of the World Trade Organization fisheries subsidies negotiation
Target
14.7
By 2030, increase the economic benefits to Small Island developing States and least developed countries from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism
Target
14.a
Increase scientific knowledge, develop research capacity and transfer marine technology, taking into account the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Criteria and Guidelines on the Transfer of Marine Technology, in order to improve ocean health and to enhance the contribution of marine biodiversity to the development of developing countries, in particular small island developing States and least developed countries
Target
14.b
Provide access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets
Target
14.c
Enhance the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources by implementing international law as reflected in United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which provides the legal framework for the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources, as recalled in paragraph 158 of "The future we want"
ALSO: Here’s the theme and focus of the conference from its website:
The overarching theme of the Conference is “Accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean”. The Conference aims to support further and urgent action to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development and identify further ways and means to support the implementation of SDG 14. It will build on existing instruments to form successful partnerships towards the swift conclusion and effective implementation of ongoing processes that contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean.
The Conference will involve all relevant stakeholders, bringing together Governments, the United Nations system, intergovernmental organizations, international financial institutions, other interested international bodies, non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, academic institutions, the scientific community, the private sector, philanthropic organizations, Indigenous Peoples and local communities and other actors to assess challenges and opportunities relating to, as well as actions taken towards, the implementation of Goal 14.
TITLE: World must move from ‘plunder to protection’ to save oceans, UN chief warns
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/09/world-must-move-from-plunder-to-protection-to-save-oceans-un-chief-warns
EXCERPTS: Nations must move from “plunder to protection” in order to save the world’s seas from crisis, the UN chief, António Guterres, told the ocean summit on Monday.
All countries must come forward with “bold pledges” including a biodiversity target to protect at least 30% of the ocean by 2030, to tackle plastic pollution, overfishing and for greater governance of the high seas, he said at the opening ceremony. Guterres also stressed the importance of multilateralism and warned, in an apparent swipe at the US, which was not present at the conference: “The deep sea cannot become the wild west.”
His words drew applause from the audience, among them 60 world leaders, including the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and his Argentine counterpart, Javier Milei, heads of small island developing states as well as ministers, policymakers, scientists and civil society activists.
The conference, which seeks to finally get the high seas treaty in place, comes against a backdrop of increasing competition for ocean resources. In April, Donald Trump moved to fast-track deep-sea mining under US law, sidestepping international efforts to regulate the industry. His actions have lent urgency to the voices of those calling for a moratorium, amid warnings it will cause irreversible damage to vulnerable ecosystems.
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, began his address with an urgent call to “revitalise multilateralism behind the UN secretary general” in order to save oceans.
“While the Earth is burning, the ocean is boiling,” warned Macron. He said that working together to “mobilise all actors, heads of state and governments speaking here but also scientists” was the only way to tackle the crisis.
Macron told leaders it was a “necessity” for nations to impose a suspension on deep-sea mining. “It’s madness to launch predatory economic action that will disrupt the deep seabed, disrupt biodiversity, destroy it … The moratorium on deep seabed exploitation is an international necessity.”
So far 37 countries have announced their support for a moratorium or pause, and in July the International Seabed Authority will meet to discuss a global mining code.
Macron said the high seas treaty “will be properly implemented” as he expects the crucial threshold of 60 ratifying countries to be reached. He did not specify a timeline.
The high seas lie outside national boundaries, where fragmented and loosely enforced rules have so far meant the vast area is essentially lawless.
Just 2.7% of the ocean is effectively protected from destructive activities, according to the Marine Conservation Institute.
TITLE: Safe levels of ocean acidification were breached five years ago, study shows
https://www.itv.com/news/2025-06-09/safe-levels-of-ocean-acidification-were-breached-five-years-ago-study-shows
EXCERPTS: Dangerous levels of acid in our oceans are damaging marine life and threatening coastal communities, new research has shown.
For the first time, scientists have found that safe levels of ocean acid have not only been breached, but the threshold was passed five years ago.
These unexpected findings show that oceans around the world, including UK waters, are less healthy than believed, with higher levels of acid impacting sea life.
Until now, ocean acidification, which changes the chemistry of the water, had not been thought to have crossed its "planetary boundary" - the point at which ecosystems become threatened.
The joint study by Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Oregon State University shows that this safe boundary was breached in 2020.
The world’s oceans take in large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2), and this research shows that the increase in CO2 is directly changing the pH balance of the water.
For the last fifteen years, PML researchers have been studying the water off the coast of the UK, and have found that the safe level for change in ocean pH levels was crossed around the year 2000.
As they examined deeper waters, the team found that 60% of global waters below 200 metres in depth had already breached the safe limit for acid.
Researchers say the only way to slow ocean acidification is to decrease CO2 emissions, with conservation measures focusing on areas of the globe’s oceans where species are most at risk.
SEE ALSO:
Indian Experts Warn of Ocean Plastic Crisis Ahead of UN Summit
https://www.outlookbusiness.com/planet/climate/indian-experts-flag-ocean-plastic-crisis-ahead-un-summit
Earth’s Oceans Are Growing Darker, And It’s Creating A Crisis For Marine Life
https://studyfinds.org/underwater-traffic-jam-oceans-grow-darker/
Ocean warriors: The race to save seahorses, seagrass and flat oysters
https://www.france24.com/en/video/20250609-ocean-warriors
UK proposes wider ban on destructive ocean bottom trawling
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3v507lx0e3o
Lifeblood For Pacific Islands Threatened As Warming Ocean Drives Tuna East
https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/06/lifeblood-for-pacific-islands-threatened-as-warming-ocean-drives-tuna-east/