By Sivaja Nair, RISE UP

From April 28–30, 2025, the coastal city of Busan, South Korea, hosted the 10th Our Ocean Conference (OOC10), a space that brought together governments, youth leaders, Indigenous communities, civil society organizations, and ocean advocates to reflect on a decade of ocean commitments and explore ways to strengthen collective action ahead of the upcoming UN Ocean Conference (UNOC 3). This year’s OOC10 saw participation from over 60 countries and organizations, resulting in 277 new commitments totaling more than $9.1 billion.

These commitments spanned seven key areas: sustainable blue economy, ocean-climate nexus, marine pollution, marine protected areas, sustainable fisheries, maritime security, and planning for future conferences. The largest share, over $6 billion, was directed toward sustainable blue economy initiatives. Other major pledges focused on reducing marine plastic pollution, expanding marine protected areas, and enhancing climate resilience through ocean-based solutions.

Together, these commitments reflect growing global momentum. But turning promises into lasting change requires more than numbers, it takes equity, accountability, and leadership from those most directly affected by ocean policy and governance decisions.

RISE UP’s Voice: Advancing Equity, Evidence, and Community Leadership

At OOC10, RISE UP was proud to bring the perspectives of our network to the table, centering people and communities who are too often left out of decision-making.

Our Programme Manager, Sivaja Nair, spoke at the official side event “Counting What Matters: Social and Economic Pathways to an Inclusive Ocean Economy.” There, she emphasized the urgent need forat we can’t protect the ocean without better data and stronger community leadership. We can’t protect the ocean without understanding how decisions impact people and without  putting those most affected by ocean decisions at the center of the process.

In the plenary session on the Marine Plastics Treaty, RISE UP joined the Big Ocean States Initiative to present a voluntary commitment calling for an ambitious, science-based global treaty. Our message was clear: negotiations must deliver real, lasting solutions for people and the planet. Watch the session here.

Throughout the week, RISE UP members also co-hosted a dynamic pavilion space with the Together for the Ocean campaign. It became a spacemeeting point for dialogue, collaboration, creativity, and collaboration.connection. Across multiple side events, we amplified our call for human rights-based ocean governance and highlighted the urgent need to address the ocean-climate crisis.

What’s Next: From Busan to Nice, and Beyond

Our ocean doesn’t need more than promises, it needs action rooted in equity, accountability, and the leadership of those on the frontlines. As we approach UNOC 3, we need to keep the momentum going and ensure the future we want is just, inclusive, and sustainable.

For RISE UP, this means focusing on four key priorities that reflect the voices and solutions of our broad network:

1. Protect the Rights of Small-Scale Fishers
Grant co-managed, preferential access to coastal waters, protect traditional resource rights, and end destructive industrial fishing in territorial waters. Small-scale fishers and fishworkers are the backbone of coastal communities and must be at the heart of future ocean policies.

2. Advance the High Seas Treaty
Governments must urgently ratify the treaty and begin designating marine protected areas beyond national jurisdiction. Protecting the high seas is critical to ocean health — and we cannot afford further delay.

3. Ban Deep-Sea Mining
The deep ocean is one of Earth’s last intact ecosystems, and its destruction would be irreversible. We’re calling for a global moratorium. It’s time to move beyond rhetoric and take decisive action to safeguard biodiversity and uphold the precautionary principle.

4. Enhance Ocean-Based Climate Solutions
Climate action must include the ocean. We’re calling for integrated, inclusive strategies, like blue national climate plans, that embed ocean-based solutions into countries’ climate policies. These plans must recognize the ocean’s central role in climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience, and be anchored in both science and traditional knowledge, grounded in justice.

We’ll keep showing up, speaking out, and working with our members to shape a just and sustainable ocean future. And we invite you to do the same. Subscribe to our newsletter, The Navigator, for updates — the next two editions will focus on what’s ahead for UNOC 3, the next global Climate Conference (COP30), and how you can be part of the global movement for ocean justice.