Wonder, Wisdom, and the Call to Protect Our Living Ocean
By Rev. James Bhagwan
World Oceans Day 2025 | Pentecost Sunday | Eve of the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3)
This year, World Oceans Day, Pentecost Sunday, and the eve of the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) converge on one date: 8 June 2025. This is not merely a calendar coincidence—it is a sacred convergence. It is a kairos moment. It is a moment to reflect, to rise, and to recommit—to the ocean that sustains us, to the Spirit that moves us, and to the future that calls us.
The theme for World Oceans Day—“Wonder: Sustaining What Sustains Us”—calls us into an attitude of reverent awe. For us in the Pacific, this is not a new concept. The ocean is not merely scenic backdrop or economic resource. It is kin. It is ancestor. It is sanctuary. It is identity. To live in the Pacific is to live in relationship with the ocean—through our spirituality, our sustenance, and our stories.
On Pentecost, Christians remember the outpouring of the Holy Spirit—the birth of the church, the beginning of a Spirit-led community sent into the world for justice, healing, and reconciliation. Today, the church is called once more: not only to preach good news to people, but to participate in the restoration of creation. The same Spirit that hovered over the primordial waters in Genesis now stirs us to care for the wounded ocean, crying out for justice.
And on the eve of the 3rd UN Ocean Conference, as global leaders gather in Nice under the theme “Accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean”, we ask: what kind of action are we accelerating? And whose voices are we mobilizing? True conservation cannot be dictated from above or afar—it must rise from the voices of custodians, communities, and cultures whose lives are intertwined with the sea.
Our Ocean, Our Future, Our Responsibility
We offer this sacred truth: The ocean is the living blue heart of our planet. It is our common heritage—and our common responsibility. We are not passive observers of its decline; we are its guardians. In the Pacific, we say: We are the ocean. And in its preservation, we are preserved.
Yet this sacred ocean is under siege. Perhaps the most insidious threat comes in the form of Deep Sea Mining (DSM)—an extractive, experimental industry seeking to plunder the ocean floor for profit, under the veil of technological advancement and sustainability.
We declare clearly:
Deep Sea Mining is Not Needed. Not Wanted. Not Consented.
If it is not safe in our EEZs, it is not safe anywhere in the Pacific. If it is not safe in the Pacific, it is not safe for the planet.
We therefore:
- Call for recognition that, as our common heritage, the ocean demands our common responsibility for its protection;
- Call on all Pacific leaders to join the growing ranks of governments, scientific authorities, churches, CSOs, and Indigenous peoples around the world in opposing the rush to mine the ocean floor;
- Welcome the stand taken by several Pacific governments imposing moratoria on DSM within their EEZs, but urge all Pacific Island governments to move beyond EEZs and push for a global ban on deep sea mining.
This is not just a scientific or environmental issue. It is a moral and spiritual one.
The Crisis of the Blue Economy
Too often, extractive industries hide behind the language of “sustainability.” The rhetoric of the dominant Blue Economy agenda has done just that—transforming oceans into commodities and reducing Pacific peoples into stakeholders rather than stewards. This agenda, framed as opportunity, in fact serves the interests of industrial powerhouses and corporate actors, not our people or our ecosystems.
It is a second wave of colonisation—Blue Colonisation—with the ocean as its frontier. The use of identity, culture, and “Pacific voices” as a marketing tool for profit-driven development is exploitation in disguise.
The Pacific Regional Non-Governmental Organisations Alliance has rightly warned us: the Blue Economy agenda reflects the intentions of corporate interests to experiment, extract, and exploit. It marginalises the Indigenous frameworks of governance and spirituality that have stewarded our oceans for generations.
We do not need more economic models that industrialise life and commodify spirit. We need an ocean governance model that is ecological, spiritual, relational—and just.
No More Nuclear Harm
Let us not forget that our ocean still bears the scars of past injustice. From the nuclear testing of the 20th century to the current discharge of wastewater from Fukushima, the Pacific has become the world’s dumping ground for environmental risk and political expediency. The Treaty of Rarotonga declares our Pacific a nuclear-free zone. Let us reaffirm this with prophetic clarity: There is no place for nuclear power, weapons, or waste in an Ocean of Peace.
Let us act now—not from fear, but from faith. Not in reaction, but in relationship. Let us root our activism in our ancestral wisdom and our theological conviction.
Let us:
- Teach our children not only how to swim, but how to read the signs of the sea.
- Support qoliqoli custodians and traditional marine protection systems.
- Reclaim the wisdom of taboos and seasonal bans that allowed ecosystems to recover.
- Say no to destructive practices like deep-sea mining and plastic dumping.
- Demand from leaders policies that prioritise ecological justice over short-term gain.
- Incorporate creation care into our preaching, our prayers, and our planning.
As we celebrate Pentecost and World Oceans Day, let the Spirit move among us anew—filling us not with fear but with mana, with compassion, with clarity of purpose. Let us no longer see the ocean as a background to our lives, but as kin, as teacher, as sanctuary.
For if the ocean dies, we all suffer. But if we act now, with faith and wisdom, we can be part of its renewal.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. (Psalm 150:6)
And let everything that has tide, pulse, and current be protected and cherished. This is our prayer. This is our calling.
Happy World Oceans Day. Blessed Pentecost. Let us paddle and sail together toward an ocean of peace, justice, and wonder.
Rev. James Bhagwan is the Secretary General of the Pacific Conference of Churches, comprising 35 national denominations and 11 national councils of churches across 20 Pacific Island states and territories