Rémi Parmentier was an associate researcher at IDDRI during the last years of his life and a key ally in the fight to protect the oceans. Co-founder of the Varda Group, a consulting firm specializing in strategic development and advocacy, Rémi Parmentier was a veteran ocean defender whose career began in the mid-1970s. He developed projects and campaigns in partnership with foundations, NGOs, governments, intergovernmental alliances and the private sector. From the early 1980s onwards, he was part of delegations from several organizations and governments at numerous multilateral negotiations and international political forums, developing political and awareness-raising strategies. In 2023, he launched the Let’s Be Nice to the Ocean project, which he led, to raise the ambition of the third United Nations Ocean Conference (Nice, France, June 2025). He also participated in multilateral negotiations for a UN Plastics Treaty to prevent and combat plastic pollution worldwide.
Rémi Parmentier died suddenly on 26 June, 2025, a few days after the Nice conference and summit on the oceans, to which he had greatly contributed in terms of visibility and success.
