From 9 to 13 June 2025, SGI representatives Flore Ghetti and Alexandra M. Goossens-Ishii participated in the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice, France, where they advocated for a human rights-centered approach to ocean conservation and highlighted the interconnectedness of ocean health and human dignity.

Ahead of the conference, SGI published a series of awareness-raising videos exploring the critical links between human rights and ocean protection. These videos, based on the report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, Ms. Astrid Puentes Riaño, followed SGI President Ikeda's educational framework of Learning, Reflecting and Empowering/Taking Action. SGI also provided comprehensive resources on ocean and human rights issues.

At the conference, SGI co-organized a side event on "Human Rights and the Ocean Environment" alongside World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Franciscans International, the International Union for Conservation of Nature Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (IUCN CEESP) and the Ocean Defenders Project. The well-attended event featured ocean defenders, small-scale fishers, non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives and government officials. Ms. Puentes Riaño emphasized, "We cannot have effective ocean protection and conservation without human rights, including especially protecting the rights of small-scale fisher peoples, coastal communities and Indigenous Peoples."

SGI also supported interfaith efforts at UNOC3, including by co-drafting the UNOC3 Multifaith declaration led by Faiths for UNOC3. The declaration affirms the importance of centering human rights in all ocean governance and conservation, and it particularly supports the calls brought forward by Indigenous Peoples, small-scale fishers and coastal communities. It also states, “Our knowledge and understanding through science, faith and traditional knowledge create a more complete vision of our sacred waters and more effective approaches to their protection. No single knowledge system alone can address the complex challenges facing our ocean, but together these systems form a wisdom greater than the sum of its parts.”

The conference achieved significant momentum for ocean protection, with four additional Member States joining the call for a deep-sea mining moratorium and 50 states announcing ratification of the High Seas Treaty. Some countries took this opportunity to announce new commitments to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 on life below water, including the Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity (UBPP) project by 22 small Pacific island nations. The project aims to establish sustainable ocean management across the entire Blue Pacific Continent spanning 42 million square kilometers. One representative of the Pacific Small Island Developing States declared, "We are not just small dots on the map; we are large ocean countries."

SGI will continue its work to show how human rights perspectives can strengthen ocean advocacy and create pathways for collaborative action toward protecting our shared waters.