COP30 Belém Ocean Declaration

The Ocean and Forests: Twin Pillars for a Sustainable Future

We share one sky, one land, and one ocean. These interconnected natural systems sustain all people and all life on Earth, transcending borders, wealth, cultures, and ideology. Our resilience depends on the health of forests and the ocean—twin pillars of planetary stability and indispensable allies in addressing the climate and biodiversity crises.

As we gather in Belém for COP30, in a region shaped by rainforest, river, and ocean, we call on all leaders to recognize the ocean’s vital role, alongside forests, as a regulator of global climate. This year, following the momentum of the Third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3), the Nice Ocean Action Plan, and Blue NDC Challenge, as well as the recent success of the High Seas Treaty, we have a unique opportunity to firmly embed comprehensive ocean solutions into climate ambition, biodiversity goals, and sustainable development strategies.

The Ocean Pavilion brings the ocean’s voice to the UNFCCC process so that this essential component of the Earth system takes its rightful place in climate dialogue. The ocean is a source of planetary stability. It produces more than 50% of the planet’s oxygen; absorbs nearly one-third of greenhouse gas emissions, transports and stores vast quantities of carbon; has taken up more than 90% of the excess heat generated by those emissions; and helps govern weather patterns, sustain ecosystems, and regulate the planet’s temperature—much like forests do on land. It is the beating heart of Earth’s water cycle, the foundation of the global blue economy, and the basis of food systems that support billions of people.

Yet these  systems are destabilized by unchecked emissions, unsustainable resource extraction, and pollution. Warming waters, acidification, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem degradation are not just ecological threats—they  reverberate through economies, communities, and climate security everywhere. Even people far from forests or the ocean are inextricably connected to the health of these two critical systems.

The task before us is clear: To protect the planet, we must protect the ocean and forests; to regenerate nature, we must value and restore both terrestrial and marine systems. Understanding, monitoring, and safeguarding the ocean is therefore a global imperative with global implications.

We call on UNFCCC negotiators to integrate ocean action into the Global Stocktake outcomes and into the next round of nationally determined contributions, ensuring that commitments are measurable, transparent and enforceable.

To accomplish this, we specifically seek the following actions:

• Recognize the ocean as a central climate regulator within national climate strategies and global frameworks.
• Ensure ocean-based climate solutions are accessible, inclusive, and just, with priority given to the needs of least developed countries, small island developing states, and frontline coastal communities.
• Accelerate nature-based ocean and coastal solutions and ensure that conservation efforts are integrated with climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience goals.
• Develop new technologies to track chronic and episodic threats such as sea level rise, ocean acidification, biodiversity loss, plastic contamination, resource extraction, and pollution across all ocean basins.
• Establish robust MRV (monitoring, reporting and verification) systems for emerging ocean-based climate solutions to ensure safety, scientific rigor, and alignment with national and global objectives.
• Catalyze innovative finance mechanisms grounded in transparent and reliable accounting systems, engaging the private sector and philanthropy, to scale marine conservation, blue carbon markets, and ocean solutions.
• Commit to funding ocean mapping, observing and monitoring systems throughout the ocean and across ocean-atmosphere and land-ocean interfaces, especially those that support adaptation and increase the resilience of least developed countries and small island developing states by delivering accessible and actionable information.

These actions must not be siloed or delayed. They must be woven into the fabric of all climate and conservation policies, from global stocktakes and finance commitments to nationally determined contributions, adaptation frameworks, and just transition strategies, and they must prioritize those most affected by climate change. Forests and the ocean together offer nature’s most scalable, equitable, and proven solutions. When we invest in their health, we invest in our shared future.

Only by placing the ocean at the center of climate strategy can we  build a resilient, equitable, and sustainable future for all. Let 2025 be remembered as the year the world united land and sea to protect all life on Earth.