Sustainable Oceans for Sustainable Communities: Insights from UNOC 2025

Jean Kyla GucilatarSeptember 2, 2025

In this Article

FAO highlights the urgent need to address ocean degradation, overfishing, and pollution during the 2025 UN Ocean Conference, emphasizing how sustainable fisheries and aquaculture are essential for ensuring food security, reducing poverty, and protecting the livelihoods of coastal communities.

Source: FAO

Ocean degradation is not merely an environmental concern; it is a pressing socio-economic crisis. Numerous communities depend heavily on healthy oceans as a primary source of livelihood and food. The challenges facing marine ecosystems contribute to broader global issues, including hunger, food insecurity, loss of income, and deepening poverty. Without urgent and appropriate action to protect our bodies of water, marine resources will be depleted, depriving future generations of the many benefits they offer.

During the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice, critical attention was given to marine and ocean issues, particularly the importance of sustainable fisheries and aquaculture. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) underscored the ocean’s essential role in ensuring access to nutritious food and supporting resilient livelihoods for millions. Addressing global challenges such as hunger and food insecurity requires promoting sustainable aquaculture and protecting marine ecosystems. These efforts can also make a meaningful contribution to reducing poverty and supporting communities that rely on the ocean.

Fisherfolk plays a vital role in achieving a sustainable aquatic sector, as they are the people who interact most closely with the ocean. Their daily lives show the interconnectedness of the ocean and humans. Environmental threats to our marine ecosystem, such as pollution and unsustainable fishing activities, will damage the ocean. The consequences of these challenges will significantly impact fisherfolk and coastal communities.

Water pollution is a significant contributor to food insecurity and global hunger. Ocean health is closely connected with food security. If our oceans are polluted with debris and toxic chemicals, marine habitats are damaged, and food supplies become contaminated. This also poses risks to human health, particularly through waterborne diseases that can worsen malnutrition. It affects agricultural production and human health, limiting access to safe and sufficient food.

Overfishing is another practice that threatens sustainable growth in the marine environment. It involves catching marine creatures faster than they can reproduce, resulting in the depletion of fish populations and the disruption of biodiversity. This causes fisherfolks to struggle to catch enough fish, affecting their income and pushing them further into poverty. Moreover, overfishing can lead to fish scarcity, which increases prices and contributes to inflation. As supply decreases, seafood products become more expensive.

A key highlight of UNOC 2025 was the launch of FAO’s 2025 Review of the State of World Marine Fishery Resources. The report included input from over 650 experts across 90 countries and assessed the sustainability of 2,570 marine fishery stocks worldwide. The review confirmed that 64.5 percent of assessed stocks are fished within biologically sustainable levels. However, many stocks are still overfished. It was estimated that 77 percent of the total volume of fish landed for human consumption comes from biologically sustainable stocks. These findings indicate that while progress has been made, urgent action is still necessary to address overfishing and safeguard livelihoods.

The effects of these issues are not equal across society. During times of scarcity and inflation, the lower and middle classes are disproportionately affected, but the poorest individuals face the greatest hardships. People with lower incomes often allocate most of their money to basic necessities. Less income means less capacity to afford food and other necessities. In contrast, those in the upper class are less affected because they have more financial resources.

FAO’s vision for a “Blue Transformation” positions aquatic food systems as essential for improving food security and reducing poverty. Blue Transformation responds to the rising demand for food resulting from population growth and changing diets. When managed responsibly, aquatic food systems can reduce hunger, improve nutrition, and create fair opportunities through decent work. They can help vulnerable communities build more resilient livelihoods.

To achieve sustainable aquaculture and prevent harmful practices such as overfishing, governments must implement effective laws and regulations to ensure that best practices are strictly followed, especially in areas affected by overfishing. The review’s findings show that where good management is in place, fish stocks are either sustainable or being rebuilt. This emphasizes the need to strengthen and expand successful approaches that achieve both environmental and socio-economic goals. As FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said, we may have the tools and knowledge to manage all the world’s fisheries. Still, we must also have global commitment, funding, and collaboration. FAO’s work promotes evidence-based strategies and supports actions that help communities that depend on marine resources.

When our oceans cannot sustain healthy production because of pollution and abuse, such as illegal fishing, the consequences are far-reaching. These problems affect individuals and communities that depend on fisheries, and they also lead to larger social and economic issues, such as hunger, food insecurity, poverty, and limited opportunities to improve living standards. The fisheries sector cannot grow or thrive under such pressure, and this will slow down economic development. Therefore, promoting and taking action for sustainable aquaculture and environmental protection must be a top priority. Marine protection is not a choice. It is a socio-economic necessity.