US federal cuts threaten international ocean science and diplomacy

Extract

Recent disruptions in US federal science are severely affecting multiple science and environment agencies, and universities. These developments are undermining the ocean science and multilateral cooperation that are essential for marine conservation, sustainable resource management and climate resilience globally. Budget cuts, programme terminations and restrictions on key research areas (including climate change and decarbonization) are eroding scientific capacity and compromising the integrity of international assessments, negotiations and monitoring systems. We urge delegates to the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC1), 9–13 June 2025, to recognize that these critical risks require responses that move beyond symbolic commitments and focus on institutional resilience, redundancy and strategic rebalancing.