Prince William says ocean conservation is a challenge like no other ahead of U.N. summit

The third U.N. Ocean Conference opens Monday, with Britain's Prince William among those raising the pressure to turn promises into real protection for the sea.

The third U.N. Ocean Conference opens Monday, with Britain's Prince William among those raising the pressure on nations to turn decades of promises into real protection for the sea.

The summit comes as just 2.7% of the ocean is effectively protected from destructive extractive activities, according to the nonprofit Marine Conservation Institute. That is far below the target agreed under the “30x30” pledge to conserve 30% of land and sea by 2030.

Atop this year’s agenda is ratification of the High Seas Treaty. Adopted in 2023, the treaty would for the first time allow nations to establish marine protected areas in international waters, which cover nearly two-thirds of the ocean and are largely ungoverned.

Speaking ahead of the conference, Britain's Prince William said Sunday that rising sea temperatures, plastic pollution and overfishing were putting pressure on fragile ecosystems and the people who depend on them.

“What once seemed an abundant resource is diminishing before our eyes,” William, heir to the British throne, told the Blue Economy and Finance Forum in Monaco. He described the challenge as being “like none we have faced before”.