"The UN Ocean Conference in the southern French city of Nice concludes this Friday with countries taking steps towards marine protection and declaring a battle over deep sea-mining, but slammed for leaving fossil fuels off the agenda – the key driver of ocean warming. Nations hoping for new financial pledges to help with battling rising sea levels and overfishing were also left disappointed."

"Months before hosting the U.N.'s first climate talks held in the Amazon, Brazil is fast-tracking a series of controversial decisions that undercut President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s lofty environmental rhetoric and show widening divisions within his cabinet."

"Eighteen countries ratified the High Seas Treaty on Monday, bringing the total to 49 — just 11 short of the 60 needed for the ocean agreement to enter into force. The surge in support, occurring during the U.N. Ocean Conference in Nice, France, adds momentum to what could become a historic shift in how the world governs the open ocean."

"At the U.N. Ocean Conference, Tonga’s princess called for recognition of whales’ legal rights. The move is one of several rights of nature initiatives happening at the conference."

"Human-caused climate change boosted Iceland and Greenland ’s temperatures by several degrees during a record-setting May heat wave, raising concerns about the far-reaching implications melting Arctic ice has for weather around the world, scientists said in an analysis released Wednesday."

"In seas around the world pH levels are falling – and scientists are increasingly frustrated that the problem is not being taken seriously enough"