William, Prince of Wales and heir to the British throne, addressed the Blue Economy and Finance Forum (BEFF) in Monaco, urging world leaders to take decisive action to protect the world’s oceans.
Speaking at the Forum in Monaco, he said everyone is responsible for change – both negative and positive.
He has warned the world’s oceans are “diminishing before our eyes” and called on the world to “think big” on how to revive them.
“What once seemed an abundant resource is diminishing before our eyes,” William told the Blue Economy and Finance Forum in Monaco.
“We all stand to be impacted.”
“This challenge is like none that we have faced before,” the royal continued.
“But I remain an optimist. I believe that urgency and optimism have the power to bring about the action needed to change the course of history.”
He ended his speech with a call to action intended to go further than just Monaco or even Europe.
“Halfway through this decisive decade, I call on all of you to think big in your actions.
“Let us act together with urgency and optimism while we still have the chance.
“For the future of our planet. For the future generations. We must listen to the words of Sir David Attenborough: ‘If we save the sea, we save our world’.”
The 2025 U.N. Ocean Conference, co-hosted by the governments of France and Costa Rica, opened on Monday in Nice, France with strong calls to accelerate action and mobilize all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean.
With the Mediterranean glittering in the background, the UN secretary-general António Guterres opened the third United Nations Ocean Conference, delivering a blunt indictment of humanity’s fractured relationship with the sea.
“The ocean is the ultimate shared resource,” he told delegates gathered at the port of Nice. “But we are failing it.”
More than 50 heads of state and government took part in the opening ceremony, including Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
In total, over 120 countries are participating in the five-day gathering, known by the shorthand UNOC3, signalling a growing recognition that ocean health is inseparable from climate stability, food security, and global equity.
French president Emmanuel Macron, whose country is co-hosting the summit alongside Costa Rica, followed with a forceful appeal for science, law, and multilateral resolve.
“The abyss is not for sale, any more than Greenland is for sale, any more than Antarctica or the high seas are for sale,” he declared. “If the Earth is warming, the ocean is boiling.”
He insisted the fate of the seas could not be left to markets or opinion. “The first response is therefore multilateralism,” Mr. Macron said. “The climate, like biodiversity, is not a matter of opinion; it is a matter of scientifically established facts.”
Our ocean is a system in crisis.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) June 9, 2025
But the ocean of our ancestors — teeming with life & diversity — can be more than a legend.
It can be our legacy.
The resolve I've seen today at the @UN Ocean Conference gives me hope that we can #SaveOurOcean. pic.twitter.com/onolZzgNWS
Image: UN secretary-general António Guterres opened the U.N. Ocean Conference
