The French research vessel Tara is sailing the French coast to push for stronger ocean protections ahead of next month’s United Nations summit in Nice. The schooner left Brittany in March and is stopping in ports around the country to raise awareness about climate change, pollution and threats to marine life – key themes of the UN event.
The third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) – taking place from 9-13 June and co-hosted by France and Costa Rica – aims to speed up global action on ocean conservation.
In the lead-up, the Tara Ocean Foundation launched a public outreach mission aboard its schooner to engage citizens, scientists and policymakers on urgent marine issues.
Founded in 2003, the foundation has carried out numerous scientific expeditions to study ocean ecosystems and monitor the effects of climate change and pollution.
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Tara left the port of Lorient on 7 March and has already visited several coastal cities. It will arrive in Nice on 8 June.
The vessel will dock in Marseille on 19 May, where a conference on plastic pollution will be held at the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (Mucem).
'Reversing burden of proof'
One of the campaign’s key goals is to promote the Ocean Protection Principle – a call to shift how environmental responsibility is assigned.
It calls for "a real paradigm shift: reversing the burden of proof", which places the responsability on industries and entities seeking to exploit the ocean to demonstrate their activities do no harm, rather than requiring scientists or advocacy groups to prove damage.
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This concept is part of a wider initiative launched after the 2022 UNOC2 in Lisbon, where progress on ocean protection was deemed insufficient.
In response, Tara Ocean and its partners introduced the "Let’s Be Nice to the Ocean" initiative, which seeks to embed long-term, enforceable protections into international frameworks.
The foundation hopes to see the Ocean Protection Principle included in the Nice Ocean Action Plan.
UNOC says the draft plan consists of a political declaration and a list of voluntary commitments, which are due to be adopted after the talks in June.
