A Mediterranean Day for a Sustainable, Inclusive Blue Economy

The Interministerial Delegation for the Mediterranean (DIMED in French), established in 2013, is responsible for coordinating this Mediterranean Day, hosted at the Mediterranean University Center in Nice. DIMED plays a key role in advancing France’s policy toward the southern Mediterranean, fostering collaboration within government services and between public and private stakeholders across five areas: environment, economy, education, social inclusion, and culture.

A Biodiversity Hotspot

As DIMED notes in its introduction to the event, the Mediterranean is a “semi-enclosed sea that links three continents” and is shaped by “deep human, economic, political, and historical ties”.

The region is home to 500 million people and receives 300 million tourists annually, making it the world’s top tourist destination. Though it covers just 0.8% of the world's maritime surface, it handles 30% of global maritime trade. According to France’s foreign ministry, the Mediterranean has become a key strategic region and a “true biodiversity hotspot”—one that is “more vulnerable to climate change than other parts of the world”. France is pursuing a “positive and inclusive” policy in the region, aimed at “strengthening ties among the 23 Mediterranean coastal nations and advancing multilateral cooperation”.

Voices of Mediterranean Action

Mediterranean Day will be opened by the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, with the President of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region and the Mayor of Nice also in attendance. Numerous representatives from Mediterranean countries will take part. The day is designed to spotlight “those taking action for the Mediterranean”. Key contributions will include:

• the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region and other Mediterranean local authorities, who will “share efforts to protect biodiversity and reduce coastal pollution”;
• the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), which will convene regional institutions to “discuss strengthening tools that support innovation and the development of a sustainable blue economy—such as the Blue Mediterranean Partnership”. This funding mechanism, led in part by the UfM, aims to mobilize €1 billion by 2030 for sustainable blue economy projects;
• the Mediterranean Action Plan of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP), which, with the participation of environment ministers from Mediterranean countries, will review its progress and outline key challenges ahead. This comes as the Barcelona Convention, a pivotal agreement to protect the Mediterranean Sea from pollution, marks its 50th anniversary;
• the Varda Group, a strategic advisory and coordination group on environmental and social issues backed by an international nonprofit foundation, will highlight the essential role of civil society in “building sustainable and ecological partnerships across the Mediterranean”.

2025: The Year of the Ocean

France has declared 2025 the Year of the Ocean— an opportunity to recognize that “no matter where we live, the sea connects us all,” and to give new, “lasting momentum to ocean-related initiatives”, as emphasized by the Minister for Ecological Transition.

That is why, following previous editions in New York (2017) and Lisbon (2022), France and Costa Rica are co-hosting the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC 3) in Nice, from June 9 to 13, 2025.

The conference will bring together all UN member states, specialized agencies, civil society, the private sector, and global donors to advance Sustainable Development Goal 14, which focuses on the conservation and sustainable use of marine environments, which is for now “the least subsidised, with three priorities, to conclude an ambitious agreement”, said the French Foreign Ministry.

The agreement project focuses on:

• advancing multilateral ocean processes to raise global ambition for ocean protection;
• mobilizing funding to conserve and sustainably manage oceans, seas, and marine resources, and support the development of a sustainable blue economy;
• strengthening and broadening the use of ocean science to inform policymaking.

Just before the international summit, the city of Nice also hosted the One Ocean Science Congress (June 3–6), organized by CNRS and Ifremer. Positioned as the scientific backbone of the conference, the Congress aimed to equip all participants with “comprehensive scientific knowledge about the ocean’s health, dynamics, and future trajectory, as well as its conservation, sustainable use, and the essential services it provides to humanity”.