**Ocean Protection Gains Momentum at U.N. Conference**

The third U.N. Ocean Conference sees pledges for marine conservation, yet thousands more areas are needed to meet targets.

In a significant advancement for marine conservation, over 20 new marine protected areas were established during the third United Nations Ocean Conference held in Nice, France, as part of a global effort to safeguard 30% of the ocean by the year 2030. Countries including Chile, Colombia, French Polynesia, Portugal, Samoa, and others committed to preserving vast aquatic regions vital for biodiversity and ecological balance.

Among the newly protected sites are remote coral atolls in the Caribbean, crucial habitats for endangered species such as sharks and rays around a Tanzanian island, and an expansive 900,000 square kilometers in the Pacific Ocean surrounding French Polynesia. Marine biologist Sylvia Earle highlighted the increasing popularity of ocean protective measures, noting that “protecting the ocean is beginning to become fashionable.”

However, this initiative comes amid contrasting political actions from various nations. Notably, the United States sent only a small delegation to the conference while simultaneously moving to allow commercial fishing in the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument. The U.S. is also pursuing plans to initiate seafloor mining in international waters, raising concerns over sustainable practices.

In response to the urgent call for deeper protections, host nation France, in collaboration with Costa Rica, advocated for a moratorium on deep-sea mining. Four additional countries joined this pledge during the conference, increasing the total supporters of this initiative to 37 nations. The disparity between commitments to marine conservation and actions undermining those efforts illustrates the ongoing struggle for sustainable governance of the world's oceans.