Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.
The United Nations Development Programme reaffirms its strong commitment to supporting the implementation and delivery of the Nice Ocean Action Plan; and the timely and urgent call to action articulated in the UNOC3 Declaration, "Our Ocean, Our Future: Accelerating Action."
The ocean's deepening and interconnected crises-pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change - pose grave threats to the health of our planet. We must renew our collective ambition to ensure sustainable and equitable ocean-positive development, leaving no one behind.
At the Lisbon Ocean Conference in 2022, UNDP launched its Ocean Promise - a commitment, integrated through our Nature Pledge, to support the achievement of SDG14 and global ocean targets through effective and equitable ocean governance, sustainable ocean finance, and strengthened local capacity for long-term stewardship.
With ambitions to ensure sustainable management for over 16 million km² of ocean space, empower more than 1,000 coastal communities, and mobilize $1 billion in ocean finance, we are responding to the estimated $1 trillion in annual losses caused by unsustainable ocean use. We are committed to shifting how nature and ocean ecosystems are valued - with the ocean at the heart of development policies and practice - and with a truly sustainable ocean economy as the goal.
We work in close partnership with governments to ensure that the wealth of the ocean benefits coastal nations and local communities, contributes to climate adaptation, and fosters inclusive growth - particularly where needs are greatest and opportunities most promising.
We must demonstrate that integrated ocean governance is a critical catalyst for inclusive and sustainable economic growth. This Declaration's case for collaboration and strengthened ocean governance at global, regional, national and local level has never been more compelling.
The BBNJ High Seas Agreement is a very recent reminder of what can be achieved when we work together. UNDP stands ready to accompany countries on the path to that Agreement's ratification and entry into force.
It is time to place ocean-positive livelihoods and sustainable ocean economies at the center of our development agenda. We fully support the Declaration's call for increased assistance to strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity in SIDS and LDCs - communities that are disproportionately affected by ocean degradation.
The launch of UNDP's strategy for SIDS for the next Decade of Action here in Nice further reaffirms our commitment to advancing a sustainable ocean economy transition in these large ocean states.
It is our hope that the Nice Ocean Action Plan, and the spirit of innovation and collaboration that has defined this Conference, continue to guide our efforts toward a healthy, resilient, and sustainable ocean for present and future generations.
