The third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) was an important moment for the conservation and sustainable utilization of marine resources and the global ocean, aligning with the Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14) and the Kunming-Montreal Agreement within the Convention on Biological Diversity. While this critical conference sounded the alarm on the intensifying impacts of the climate crisis on our world’s seas, the reality of ocean pollution and acidification, and the abusive extraction of marine resources, world leaders at UNOC3 disturbingly remain silent on the very driver of many of these threats–fossil fuels.
We, civil society from Southeast Asia, are disappointed that the urgency of collective action for a fossil-free ocean was neglected at UNOC3. Across the world, highly biodiverse marine regions like our Coral Triangle serve as hope spots for the regeneration of ocean ecosystems in the face of threats of extreme and irreversible biodiversity loss. Yet these same regions also host the continued expansion of fossil fuels. Over 120 million people depend on the Coral Triangle, and it houses an astonishing 76% of global coral species and 37% of reef species. Unfortunately, it is also home to proposed and operating oil and gas blocks equivalent to 16% of its total area, over 64 gigawatts of proposed fossil gas power facilities, and at least 19 liquefied natural gas (LNG) import or export terminals–15 of which are within 10 kilometers of sensitive marine ecosystems. Concentrations of fossil gas development in particularly biodiverse areas in Southeast Asia like the Mekong Delta in Vietnam and the Verde Island Passage in the Philippines are also of great alarm.
Historically polluting countries behind the climate crisis continue to fuel this reckless fossil fuel expansion. France, the host of UNOC3, is home to banks that channeled the 7th biggest amount of financing to gas expansion in the Coral Triangle since the Paris Agreement. Financial institutions from other Global Northern countries–including the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan – are also doing the same. Global Northern countries already committed grave injustice at COP29 with their vague and measly climate finance commitments; their role in the continued proliferation of fossil fuels in our seas and coasts puts into question any claim of ocean conservation and climate leadership.
This dire state of affairs is a major challenge in meeting the target to protect 30 percent of the global ocean by 2030. World leaders cannot claim comprehensive and ambitious action for our ocean without also committing to an urgent end to all support for fossil fuel expansion.
In the context of the ocean and climate crisis, Southeast Asian countries’ efforts are also in want of ambition. We welcome the commitment expressed by governments from our region to the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which was reaffirmed as the essential legal framework for all ocean activities, as well as emphasis they made on the significance of collective action and a multilateral approach to ocean governance, among other pledges. However, their neglect to acknowledge and commit action to safeguard our biodiverse seas and coasts against fossil gas and other fossil fuels is a disservice to Southeast Asian communities, who are among the most affected in the world by the climate crisis.
UNOC3 was a chance for a paradigm shift. Ten years ago, vulnerable peoples around the globe made history with the Paris Agreement in France. UNOC3 held the same potential–-but world leaders failed to seize the opportunity for historic action by committing to a fossil-free ocean. We urge them to brace themselves, however, as communities across Southeast Asia and the world will be relentless in the fight for our survival, for a thriving global ocean free from fossil fuels, and for a swift and just energy transition globally.