Delegates wrapped up the UN Oceans Conference last week, held in Nice, France. This was the third iteration of the conference, and local and regional governments had their strongest delegation yet, a testament to this year’s inclusive theme of Accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to converse and sustainably use the ocean.

Local and regional governments are paying attention to the multilateral oceans agenda because of the myriad ways life in coastal cities, towns and regions depends on the health and sustainability of our oceans. Local and regional governments are key actors in protecting maritime, coastal and freshwater ecosystems; regulating pollution; and enabling sustainable blue economies and local livelihoods that enhance resilience. In addition, the communities on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face all of these challenges with less land, people and funding to deploy. 

The cities and regions community went to the UN Oceans Conference with a clear message: Ensuring a resilient and sustainable future with our oceans requires strong multilevel governance. Local and regional governments should be a critical part of designing and implementing effective policies.

Dr. Kate Strachan, Senior Manager for Climate Change Resilience, Coastal Management & Disaster Risk Reduction at ICLEI Africa says, “Momentum is building. The global commitment to protect 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030 was a landmark outcome of the Biodiversity COP15. At COP16, that commitment was amplified with a dedicated 30×30 Ocean Action Day, sending a clear message that ocean protection is gaining political traction. Now, the focus must shift to financing, implementation, and inclusive governance, including the voices of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and local governments.”

Here are five reasons why oceans are important to cities and why the work of cities are critical to protecting our oceans:

1) Coastal communities can drive the growth of sustainable blue economies

As of 2023, 2.15 billion people live in the near-coastal zone and 898 million in the low-elevation coastal zone globally and those numbers are growing. These growing communities are innovating new economic models and livelihoods derived from sustainable management of coastal areas. 

From Trujillo (Peru) to Freetown (Sierra Leone), local and regional governments are restoring degraded coastal areas and turning waste lands into productive blue-green zones. These efforts link conservation, livelihoods, and climate adaptation, directly contributing to sustainable local economies.

2) Local and regional governments are the frontline for responding to coastal impacts

Coastal cities and communities are facing the brunt of ocean related challenges – from climate change related impacts, to impacts on livelihoods such as declining fisheries, marine litter and pollution and tourism impacts. Coastal communities must confront this complex web of environmental, economic, and social challenges. Rising sea levels, intensified by the accelerated melting of polar ice sheets, threaten to inundate low-lying areas, displacing millions and altering coastlines worldwide. 

Despite these threats, coast communities continue to grow, putting pressure on local and regional governments to respond with adaptation and resilience strategies to protect vulnerable populations. Responding to sea level rise is a fundamentally local issue, and policies must be built on existing knowledge and community-based solutions. Local and regional governments are best positioned to surface and scale these insights.

3) Coast resilience solutions based on nature start locally

Ecosystems like dunes, reefs, and mangroves, once overlooked, are now central to urban resilience strategies. These systems are most effectively protected and restored when communities are engaged as stewards, with cities enabling inclusive, ground-up action.

Coastal wetlands and related habitats are of critical importance as nature-based solutions to the climate crisis; they protect coastal communities from sea level rise, they reduce disaster risk in the face of climate change-exacerbated extreme weather events and provide blue carbon storage. 

They also provide an effective connection between terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and a wide range of other ecosystem services, including fisheries, other natural products, recreation and tourism, and purification of water and air. In addition, they are often integrally linked to the livelihoods and wellbeing of local communities and provide essential economic opportunities for local people.

4) Small Island Developing States can show us the way to bold action

Small Island Developing States, located in the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea, face intersecting vulnerabilities such as climate impacts, food insecurity, economic insecurity, remoteness, biodiversity loss that magnify and multiply challenges. 

Cities in SIDS encounter many of the same urban development challenges as peers, but with fewer resources, such as people, funding and land, to meet them and greater exposure to external shocks. The uniqueness endemic to each small island (culture, ecosystem, history) requires specialized, nuanced approaches to each place, married with humility and trust.

According to Tania Manea Lyau, Deputy Mayor of Punaauia, French Polynesia (an ICLEI Member): “The voice of islanders is important because everything that happens in the world has an environmental impact on us, whether rising sea levels, increasing temperatures, and climate change.”

SIDS have long led the way in advocating for bolder sustainability action within global alliances, that encourage the international community to act considering the special circumstances of SIDS. ICLEI’s work in Oceania, with the Global Covenant of Mayors, International Climate Initiative, and Transformative Actions Program have built legacies of engagement with Pacific SIDS, including Fiji, Kiribati, and the Solomon Islands.  

“We live in modern times, we have new technologies, but that doesn’t prevent us from needing to reconnect with our roots and our values,” said Manea Lyau.

5) Plastic pollution in our oceans hurts our communities too

Already, 199 million tons of plastic pollute our oceans – with another 10 million tons entering each year. The rapidly increasing levels of plastic pollution represent a serious global environmental issue that negatively impacts the environmental, social, economic and health dimensions of sustainable development. 

Without serious global interventions, the amount of plastic waste entering aquatic ecosystems could nearly triple from some 9–14 million tons per year in 2016 to a projected 23–37 million tons per year by 2040. 

Addressing plastic pollution is a complex issue, involving multiple sources and actors, and requiring different stakeholders to join forces and intervene at various levels. Local and regional governments are at the frontline of the plastic pollution crisis, facing increasing pressure to mitigate and respond to its devastating impact on the health and wellbeing of the environment and communities. 

Local and regional governments have been calling for global rules and regulations across the full lifecycle of plastics, placing accountability and appropriate measures upstream, and reducing the risk that cities face due to the uncontrolled accelerating growth in plastic waste generation.