NICE2025: The Protection Principle Task Force

An official UNOC3 Side Event & Reception at Villa Arson - Nice, France

June 9 – June 9, 2025

External

Photo: José Alejandro Álvarez

Programming

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As the ocean faces increasing pressures from extraction, pollution, and climate disruption, a powerful movement is rising to change the rules: Let’s Be Nice to the Ocean. Launched in November 2023 by The Varda Group and six partner organizations, including TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, this initiative champions the Protection Principle—a bold shift in global ocean governance that places protection, not exploitation, as the default.

 

Now supported by over 100 organizations worldwide, the movement comes to UNOC3 with an important milestone: the launch of the Protection Principle Task Force. This new, multidisciplinary body is charged with developing practical pathways for implementation and will report its findings at UNOC4.

 

This inspiring evening will bring together international ocean leaders, environmental visionaries, policymakers, and philanthropists to announce this critical step forward. The evening includes a guided tour of Becoming Ocean, a contemporary art exhibition co-produced by Villa Arson, TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Tara Ocean Foundation, with the collaboration of Schmidt Ocean Institute.

 

The Protection Principle proposes a paradigm shift in ocean governance: reversing the burden of proof so that human activities must demonstrate compatibility with ocean health before proceeding. It seeks to make protection the norm, not the exception, in ocean policy and practice. This side event at UNOC3 is a step toward operationalizing that vision—with the launch of a Task Force that will explore regulatory, institutional, and diplomatic pathways to embed the principle across international frameworks.

 

The event is hosted by the Let’s Be Nice to the Ocean initiative and organized by The Varda Group with the collaboration of TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Tara Ocean Foundation, and Dona Bertarelli Philanthropy.

 

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