UN Oceans Conference: Australia commits to 30% highly protected marine areas by 2030, signs on to High Seas Biodiversity Treaty, Blue NDC Challenge

Photo: Murray Watt at UNOC3

The third UN Oceans Conference (website) took place in Nice, France from 9 to 13 June 2025. Australia's new Environment Minister attended as head of mission for Australia.

• Australia Commits to 30% high protected marine areas
• Australia Joins Blue NDC Challenge
• Australia Joins Nice Call for an Ambitious Plastics Treaty
• Transcript of Australia National Statement
• UN Secretary General: Fossil Fuel Age is coming to an end

The final Plenary adopted the outcome document of UNOC3, the declaration “Our Ocean, Our Future: United for Urgent Action,” reports the UN. During the closing plenary, Elinor Hammarskjöld, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and UN Legal Counsel, noted that the declaration, also known as the “Nice Ocean Action Plan,” offers a solid roadmap for future action, stressing the need to translate commitments into action to carry the momentum forward, reported the Earth Negotiations bulletin team.

Prime Minister Albanese says global warming a factor in Tropical Cyclone Alfred and its extreme weather impacts

So on Friday while Category 2 Cyclone Alfred drifted near the Queensland coast, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese fronted up to a media conference in Canberra with questions on whether global warming is making disasters worse, whether the 2035 emissions reduction targets will be released prior to the election (which is a commitment under the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement, not Australian law) and on Peter Dutton choosing to attend an event in Sydney than help constituents in his Brisbane electorate of Dickson prepare for the extreme weather impacts of the cyclone event.

While the Tropical Cyclone stalled over Moreton Bay becoming a tropical Low, it still brought substantial wind damage, and intense rainfall to large parts of SE Queensland and the Northern Rivers of NSW causing extensive flood emergencies. At its peak, more than 450,000 households in SE Queensland and Northern NSW lost power from the grid. Premier Crisafulli described it as the "largest ever loss of power from a natural disaster in Queensland's history". On Sunday several sites around Brisbane set new daily rainfall records.

The Queensland and NSW Governments, along with the Federal Government had been quick to prepare and warn citizens, and set in place emergency services to respond the the extreme weather impacts.

The Climate Council and independent rapid attribution climate researchers identified that global warming is a factor for Tropical Cyclone Alfred as it approached Brisbane.