Keynote Address of Senator Loren Legarda | DFA Ocean Talk | Key Takeaways of the Philippines from the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) | 13 August 2025

For Filipinos, the ocean is the soul of our archipelago. It sustains our communities, shapes our culture and our way of life, and anchors the livelihoods of 2.24 million of our people. Each year, it contributes ₱787 billion to our economy, yet its true worth is beyond measure, for it is life itself.

That life is now under severe threat. By 2040, sea-level rise could displace 150,000 Filipinos, inflicting losses exceeding ₱18 billion. Each year, over four million metric tons of mismanaged plastic waste poison our waters and food chain. Warming seas, overfishing, and habitat destruction are converging into an unprecedented crisis we cannot postpone confronting.

It was with this urgency and resolve that the Philippines came to the Third United Nations Ocean Conference. Our delegation was present in every major space of the conference: plenary sessions, all ten Ocean Action Panels, and multiple side events. We delivered interventions in nine panels, steered discussions as one of the thirteen Vice Presidents of the Conference, and engaged in strategic dialogues to advance our positions on marine biodiversity, ocean governance, the blue economy, ocean literacy, and maritime security.

Weeks later came a milestone in international law. The International Court of Justice issued a historic Advisory Opinion affirming that States have a binding legal duty to prevent, reduce, and redress climate harm. The Philippines took an active role in these proceedings, presenting the lived realities of our people: super typhoons that destroy communities in hours and interrupt education so severely that up to 50% of the school year is lost, record heat that disrupts agriculture, and rising seas that threaten the biodiversity feeding millions. We asserted that climate harm is a breach of legal duty, and that protecting our oceans is central to human dignity, security, and peace.

Throughout my four terms in the Senate, I have worked to translate these principles into law: the Climate Change Act, People’s Survival Fund Act, Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act, Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Renewable Energy Act, among many others.

This 20th Congress, I am committed to championing the proposed Blue Economy Act, which will embed ocean health into the very framework of our economic planning. And as Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, I will ensure that once the Instrument of Ratification for the BBNJ Agreement is transmitted to the Senate, we will act without delay. This treaty, on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, is essential to safeguarding the global ocean commons for generations to come.

It also goes without saying that upholding our maritime rights is non-negotiable. Adherence to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 2016 South China Sea Arbitration Award is the foundation of stability and stewardship in our waters, for only the rule of law can secure the strength of ocean governance.

But commitments, no matter how eloquently spoken in conference halls, must be made real in our barangays. We must see:

• Empowered local governments that enforce sustainable fishing, protect mangroves, and expand marine protected areas;
• Ocean-literate citizens who understand the ocean as a shared inheritance, not a boundless resource;
• Effective waste management and anti-illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing enforcement that cuts threats at their source; and
• Strong partnerships across government, science, business, and communities to scale up solutions that work.

The fight for our oceans demands unprecedented cooperation. Ocean protection must be embedded in our climate policies and aligned with our National Adaptation Plan. Government agencies must work as one. Civil society must keep us accountable. The academe must guide us with sound science. The private sector must make sustainability the standard. The wisdom of our indigenous peoples and local communities must be valued.

And of course, to our youth, your creativity can change the tide. Use your talents to awaken others: draw illustrations and komiks that champion our environment, spark conversations on TikTok, capture the beauty of our seas through underwater photography to promote sustainable tourism, and fill social media with ideas that reveal both the wonder and the importance of our oceans.

Inspire others to care, inspire others to act.

The Philippines has led and will continue to lead in ocean protection and climate action, but our most significant victories are yet to be won, if we dare to do more, together.

Maraming salamat at isang luntiang Pilipinas sa ating lahat!