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STORY: UN / WORLD OCEAN ASSESSMENT
TRT: 06:14
SOURCE: UNIFEED / UNCTAD /IMO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 08 JUNE 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior UN Headquarters
08 JUNE 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press room dais
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Steven Hill, Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, United Nations:
“The planet's oceans are under mounting stress and increasing pressure. The time to act is now. Guided by science and working together, we can steer the ocean towards a sustainable future, enabling its health and resilience for people today and the years ahead.”
4. Wide shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Bahia Tahzib, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, the Kingdom of the Netherlands:
“This landmark report may be the most comprehensive assessment of the ocean to date. It offers a powerful roadmap for action through global collaboration and multilateralism.”
6. Med shot, press room dais
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Bahia Tahzib, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, the Kingdom of the Netherlands:
“The report also delivers a clear and urgent message. It presents a sobering picture of marine ecosystems under growing strain, climate change, pollution, overexploitation and habitat degradation are putting the ocean under pressure from many sides. They are disrupting fragile ecosystems on which we all depend. The message is really simple we have the knowledge and we must act.”
8. Wide shot, press room dais
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Fabien Cousteau, Aquanaut, Oceanographic Explorer and Founder, Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center:
“The ocean is life. It's very simple. It connects us every one of us on this planet. It's a universal circulatory system of all life that we know, that we cherish and that we depend on.”
10. Wide shot, press room dais
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Fabien Cousteau, Aquanaut, Oceanographic Explorer and Founder, Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center:
“The third World ocean Assessment is a bastion of knowledge. It is a trajectory within the three ocean assessments to give us a much clearer vision of where we've been and where we go. And thanks to the hundreds of experts in the field who share their knowledge freely to the rest of us, we have a much clearer understanding of not only where we stand, but what we must do as a global community.”
12. Wide shot, press room dais
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael González Quirós, Director, Oceanographic Centre of Gijón:
“While we celebrate the publication of this scientifically robust report, its findings are deeply concerning The ocean, its ecosystems, biodiversity and the services it provides, which support our economies, well-being and the cultural heritage of coastal and indigenous peoples, is deteriorating rapidly at an accelerating rate. This is not an opinion. It's the clear conclusion drawn from extensive scientific advice.”
14. Wide shot, press room dais
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael González Quirós, Director, Oceanographic Centre of Gijón:
“The report also shows that the ocean economy is expanding rapidly across sectors such as aquaculture, tourism and shipping, as well as emerging areas like renewable energy and marine biotechnology. While this growth is vital for food security, employment and economic development, it's increasingly constrained by the declining health of the ocean. Fisheries illustrate both the challenges and the opportunities. Overfishing and illegal practices continue to put pressure on fish stocks. However, when science-based management is effectively applied, recovery is possible.”
16. Wide shot, press room dais
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Fabien Cousteau, Aquanaut, Oceanographic Explorer and Founder, Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center:
“We just don't talk about it enough. We celebrate the ocean one day out of the year. We depend on it the entire year itself. Whether it's the 60-plus percent of the oxygen that it brings us, or many other statistics that we can throw at you. But at the end of the day, unless we engage and share that knowledge in a way that catches the average person's attention, moving the needle towards a positive space is a very difficult thing to do.”
18. Med shot, dais
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Fabien Cousteau, Aquanaut, Oceanographic Explorer and Founder, Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center:
“The positive side of things is we're actually talking about it. We're actually starting to listen. I think the alarm bells have been loud enough that most people understand the basics of the urgency, at least enough to open a conversation. The good news also is that because of the World Ocean Assessment and other expertise out there, we're starting to understand how to implement the beginnings of solutions, how to engage people, in ways that hopefully will change the course we've set for ourselves.”
20. Wide shot, end of presser
FILE - 20 – 24 JANUARY 2023, ATLANTIC OCEAN, CABO VERDE
21. Various shots, fishing boats by the shore
22. Various shots, turtles
FILE - 02 - 04 JULY 2022, ATLANTIC OCEAN, SETUBAL, PORTUGAL
23. Various shots, aerial views of Tróia coastline
24. Various shots, dolphins
FILE - 03 SEPTEMBER 2024, INDIAN OCEAN, EAST TIMOR
25. Various shots, boats along the coastline
FILE - 23 NOVEMBER 2023, SOUTHERN OCEAN, ANTARCTICA
26. Various shots, aerial views of coastline, penguins
27. Various shots, boats, ocean, icebergs and coastline
FILE - IMO - 21 SEPTEMBER 2024, LAGOA, ALGARVE, PORTUGAL
28. Close up, underwater, diver, pollution
FILE - UNCTAD - FEBRUARY 2017, MALTA
29. Close up, plastic bag floating in Mediterranean Sea
FILE - UNCTAD - MAY 2023, CARIBBEAN SEA
30. Med shot, fish swimming
FILE - UNCTAD - AUGUST 2016, CARIBBEAN SEA
31. Close up, seaweed and clownfish (Amphiprioninae species) swimming among corals
Presenting the findings of the 3rd World Ocean Assessment (WOA), Oceanographic Explorer Fabien Cousteau, today (8 Jun) told reporters in New York that oceans are “a universal circulatory system of all life” and said the WOA “is a bastion of knowledge” that provides “a much clearer understanding of not only where we stand, but what we must do as a global community.”
Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, Steven Hill, said the planet's oceans “are under mounting stress and increasing pressure,” stressing that “the time to act is now.”
Hill said, “guided by science and working together, we can steer the ocean towards a sustainable future, enabling its health and resilience for people today and the years ahead.”
Ambassador Bahia Tahzib of the Netherlands for her part said, “this landmark report may be the most comprehensive assessment of the ocean to date. It offers a powerful roadmap for action through global collaboration and multilateralism.”
Tahzib said the report “presents a sobering picture of marine ecosystems under growing strain, climate change, pollution, overexploitation and habitat degradation are putting the ocean under pressure from many sides.”
She said, “the message is really simple we have the knowledge and we must act.”
Cousteau said, “he ocean is life. It's very simple. It connects us every one of us on this planet.”
He said, the third World ocean Assessment sets “a trajectory within the three ocean assessments to give us a much clearer vision of where we've been and where we go.”
The Director of the Oceanographic Centre of Gijón, Rafael González Quirós, for his part said, “while we celebrate the publication of this scientifically robust report, its findings are deeply concerning The ocean, its ecosystems, biodiversity and the services it provides, which support our economies, well-being and the cultural heritage of coastal and indigenous peoples, is deteriorating rapidly at an accelerating rate. This is not an opinion. It's the clear conclusion drawn from extensive scientific advice.”
Quirós said, “the report also shows that the ocean economy is expanding rapidly across sectors such as aquaculture, tourism and shipping, as well as emerging areas like renewable energy and marine biotechnology,” and added that “while this growth is vital for food security, employment and economic development, it's increasingly constrained by the declining health of the ocean.”
He said, “fisheries illustrate both the challenges and the opportunities. Overfishing and illegal practices continue to put pressure on fish stocks. However, when science-based management is effectively applied, recovery is possible.”
Taking questions from journalists, Cousteau said, “we just don't talk about it enough. We celebrate the ocean one day out of the year. We depend on it the entire year itself. Whether it's the 60-plus percent of the oxygen that it brings us, or many other statistics that we can throw at you. But at the end of the day, unless we engage and share that knowledge in a way that catches the average person's attention, moving the needle towards a positive space is a very difficult thing to do.”
He said, “the positive side of things is we're actually talking about it. We're actually starting to listen. I think the alarm bells have been loud enough that most people understand the basics of the urgency, at least enough to open a conversation. The good news also is that because of the World Ocean Assessment and other expertise out there, we're starting to understand how to implement the beginnings of solutions, how to engage people, in ways that hopefully will change the course we've set for ourselves.”
The World Ocean Assessment (WOA) is the United Nations’ global integrated scientific evaluation of the state of the world’s oceans, covering environmental, social, and economic aspects to support sustainable ocean management.
Overview
The WOA is conducted under the UN Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects, which is accountable to the UN General Assembly and guided by international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
Its purpose is to provide a comprehensive scientific basis for governments, intergovernmental organizations, and policymakers to make informed decisions on ocean conservation, sustainable use, and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 14.
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