10th Our Ocean Conference, and First Without U.S. Government, Leads to $9.1B for Ocean Conservation

The 10th annual Our Ocean Conference (OOC) took place from April 28 through April 30 in Busan, South Korea. As a result of the conference, which was the first that the U.S. government did not join, countries committed to investing a total of $9.1 billion toward ocean conservation and restoration efforts.

The 2025 conference, titled “Our Ocean, Our Action,” focused on how countries can transform the world’s oceans from a state of “crisis” to one of “hope” over the next decade. World Resources Institute also released a report alongside the conference to review the pledges and actions over the past decade of the conference.

OOC actions fall into one of six main categories: maritime pollution, ocean-climate nexus, sustainable fisheries, marine protected areas (MPAs), sustainable blue economy and maritime security. 

At this year’s event, the sustainable blue economy category received the most money, with 59 pledges totaling $4.5 billion. Conference officials noted a rising interest in pledges focused on using digital technology to improve ocean conservation, such as by using artificial intelligence (AI), drones, and enhanced satellite imagery for monitoring MPAs and fisheries.

But marine pollution, especially plastic pollution, remains one of the biggest concerns for conference participants, with over 20% of commitments in the pollution category addressing plastic pollution. The latest commitments in this category focus on recycling, community education and engagement and plastic policies.

Of the commitments made over the past 10 years, the highest number (508) went toward maritime pollution, followed by MPAs (483), ocean-climate nexus (480), sustainable blue economy (475), sustainable fishers (457) and maritime security (215).

“We’ve already proven that multilateral cooperation is possible — now we must match it with ambition, speed, and scale,” Tom Pickerell, global director of the World Resources Institute Ocean Program, said in a statement. “The health of our ocean is not just an environmental issue, it has profound implications on human health, economic stability and global security. The decisions we make today will determine whether our ocean can continue to sustain us tomorrow.”

Despite the positive news of another $9.1 billion committed to ocean conservation at the 2025 conference, this year’s event had its lowest number of commitments, 277, since 2016, Mongabay News reported.

In the history of the conference, which was first started in 2014 by the U.S. Department of State and then-Secretary of State John Kerry, countries have made 2,895 pledges of nearly $170 billion total for ocean conservation action.

John Kerry speaks at the Our Ocean Conference on April 29, 2025. Our Ocean Conference

Despite the U.S. absence this year and a lower number of commitments, the results of the conference still reveal promise with global efforts to protect our oceans. According to the conference’s 10 Year Progress Report, $23.8 billion from the total pledges has been met, and another $109.6 billion of commitments are in progress, meaning over $133 billion has been mobilized for ocean conservation in the past decade.

However, $24.9 billion of the pledges from 483 commitments remains unused.

“We can’t just go to conferences and make a pledge and walk away and say, ‘Well, we’ve done our part.’ We have to make sure that these pledges are implemented,” Kerry, who attended independently from the U.S. government, said at the conference.

U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island was the only current U.S. government official to attend.

While the next conference date is yet to be determined, the 11th annual OOC is set to take place in Kenya.

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