“How are our seas and oceans? What can they offer us in terms of fair and solidarity wellness for humanity? Can we sustainably feed, heal and supply materials and energy to a growing human population, thanks to the oceans? How to protect this universal and limited common good? What are the proposals and solutions from science today to make seas and oceans healthy and prosperous for future generations? How can contribute Institutions, the scientific community and each of us to the knowledge of the factors that affect the balance of ecosystems and how to preserve them?”
These questions were key discussion points during a conference on Health of the seas and oceans and their role in the present and future of humanity at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (PAS), Vatican City, on 8 June 2022, World Oceans Day. Inspired by Laudato Si’, ideas and possible solutions for sustainability were discussed in the context of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (the UN Agenda 2030), especially SDG 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
On 9 to 13 June 2025, the 2025 UN Ocean Conference (2025 UNOC) continues to focus on supporting further and urgent action to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development and identify further ways and means to support the implementation of SDG 14. The 2025 UNOC will also build on existing instruments to form partnerships that contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean.
The vision of the UN’s Ocean Decade is the science we need for the ocean we want and the effort is to globally stimulate, within a decade, the ocean science and knowledge generation that can reverse the decline of the state of the ocean system and explore new opportunities for its sustainable development and use.
In the Final Statement of the 2022 PAS Conference at the Vatican, the14 signatories called for a new, more respectful culture of the seas and the oceans that prioritizes the protection of the ocean as the “common heritage of humankind, including agreements that foreground humanity’s inalienable right to a healthy, biodiverse and productive ocean, as well as the right of all living beings to good health.”
This call for managing the oceans as a common global good and sharing sustainably its resources for a growing human population and for future generations should accompany the science and knowledge effort of the Ocean Decade, as caring for the health of the seas and the oceans is caring for humanity.