Ocean Conference Research Articles

Whose Ocean? Exploring multidisciplinary perspectives towards ocean sustainability and implications for the un(der)represented

The ocean's significance encompasses crucial ecosystem services including climate regulation, oxygen production and food supply. The ocean is also a major player in the global economy. However, human activities continue to harm the ocean, jeopardising these vital functions. In July 2022, the United Nations Ocean Conference adopted a political declaration entitled "Our ocean, our future, our responsibility," emphasising the need for sustainable ocean management and protection. However, an important initial question arises: who are the “Our”? or, rephrased “Whose ocean” is it? This study presents first answers to this question, based on interviews with ocean professionals from diverse backgrounds. Their responses showcased the complexity of the issue, with differing opinions on ocean “ownership” and “control”. Despite the diversity of perspectives, a shared emphasis emerged: shifting from profit-driven decision-making to prioritising marine ecosystem health. Proposed approaches to build a sustainable relationship between people and the ocean include promoting ocean literacy and marine research and ensuring global accountability. These voices offered valuable insights towards ocean sustainability, guiding future academic, educational and policy-making efforts.

Voluntary commitments for ocean sustainability: Comparing the UN Ocean Conference and Our Ocean Conference platforms

Fragmented ocean governance has resulted in a crisis of ocean health as well as hampered efforts to improve ocean sustainability. Two systems for mobilising ‘voluntary commitments’ (VCs) to contribute to ocean sustainability have been developed: one organised under the auspices of the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC), and one under the annual Our Ocean Conference (OOC) series. The two systems function independently of the other, and there are also considerable thematic overlaps, raising questions about cross-registration in assessing progress towards improving ocean sustainability. This paper cross-references the 3923 cumulative commitments made under the two systems, finding 283 unique UNOC commitments (out of 2107 total, or 13.4%) that have been cross-registered in the OOC platform. These include marine protected area commitments that cover 1.45% of the global ocean. Cross-registration and duplication is therefore not a substantial problem that undermines the utility of these platforms. Nonetheless, issues of participation, thematic spread, and how to meaningfully assess implementation, need further investigation to more fully understand the impact of these VC platforms on ocean sustainability.

Ecotourism in Marine Protected Areas as a tool to valuate natural capital and enhance good marine governance: A review

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are essential to reach the UN Ocean’s Decade challenges and the Sustainable Development Goal 14 (life bellow water – conserve coastal and marine areas), and their crucial role for the health of the planet was highlighted in the United Nations Ocean Conference. However, often these MPA’s are no more than Paper Parks, with poor financial and human resources, thus lacking effectiveness. Moreover, they frequently trigger conflicts with local communities, by imposing restrictions to their activities with no alternative or compensations, causing serious governance inefficiencies. Thus, within the UN Oceans Decade, MPA’s must face simultaneously three of the challenges: Protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity (Challenge 2); Develop a sustainable and equitable ocean economy (Challenge 4) and Change humanity’s relationship with the ocean (Challenge 10). To address those challenges, it becomes clear that management models of MPA’s had to find ways to value natural capital and, at the same time, involve local communities and stakeholders in the governance processes. The conservation of biodiversity has both direct and indirect economic benefits for many sectors of the economy, namely tourism, being ecotourism considered one of the segments particularly adequate to value natural capital. Ecotourism, defined as “environmentally responsible travel and visitation to relatively undisturbed natural areas”, to enjoy and appreciate nature, is often used to enhance the natural capital, while protecting and promoting protected areas. Several studies have been carried out about ecotourism in MPA’s all over the world, particularly in the 21stcentury. In this article, we analyzed several case studies focusing ecotourism in MPAs, to better understand the connection between the development of this industry, the development of sustainable blue economy, and the efforts for ocean conservation. From the analysis conducted, we conclude that ecotourism development and community participation are of paramount importance in achieving sustainable development in MPAs, although there is still room to new advances improving good marine governance.

Ocean negative carbon emissions: A new UN Decade program

Ocean negative carbon emissions: A new UN Decade program

UN Ocean Conference needs transparent and science-based leadership on ocean conservation

The United Nations Ocean conference convened in June 2022. Heads of state, businesses, and civil society organizations met in Lisbon to discuss how to scale up ocean action to achieve SDG 14 goals. In the face of the existential challenges of the climate emergency and species extinction crisis, bold and decisive action on ocean conservation through a shift in the protection paradigm is needed now. Recognizing existing barriers (e.g., political, organizational, social, economic) that operate at various scales (e.g., international, regional and national) and that are precluding achieving a healthy ocean is key and has to be addressed with strong leadership and sound commitments. A roadmap with clear steps and achievements including metrics assessing protection levels, stages of establishment, management effectiveness and equity is now needed to guarantee the success of marine conservation goals. Portugal can and should help lead the way by adopting such a roadmap and approach, but post-2020 decisions need to incorporate, beyond area goals, both the quality and effectiveness of ocean protection through metrics and standards such as those provided by the MPA Guide, Green List and Blue Parks.

Plastics in blue carbon ecosystems: a call for global cooperation on climate change goals

Plastics in blue carbon ecosystems: a call for global cooperation on climate change goals

Commitments to sustainable fisheries: Empty words or reality?

The Our Ocean conferences focus on voluntary commitments by different pledgers in support of actions towards a clean, healthy and productive ocean. We analysed the content and summarised the progress of implementation of the commitments related to sustainable fisheries at the Our Ocean conferences during 2014–2018. A total of 77 different entities provided commitments. Governments was the largest group (34) followed by NGOs (23). The majority (58%) of commitments were related to enforcement, transparency and cooperation. In particular, combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fisheries and support for the port state measures process were the focus of many of the commitments. To increase transparency and effectiveness of commitments, we suggest that more emphasis should be put on documenting and evaluating the impact of commitments. There is good progress in the implementation, and the commitments are largely reality and not empty words. We consider that the commitments have been successful in terms of generating attention and providing funding of projects that are supportive of sustainable fisheries. The diversity of pledgers is large, and an objective gap analysis on requirements for achieving sustainable fisheries regionally could provide pledgers with common ground and further increase the impact of the Our Ocean conferences.

The cost of saving our ocean - estimating the funding gap of sustainable development goal 14

While there have been estimates for the overall funding needs of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and for specific SDGs, there has been no attempt to estimate the funding needs of SDG 14, life below water, despite an impressive mobilization of financial sources the last couple of years. This lack of resourcing estimates is likely the result of the absence of information mainly at the national level of funding devoted to SDG 14 targets and of the complexity of identifying standards and actions for measuring SDG 14 targets. Using information from the proceedings of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the 2017 UN Ocean Conference, this paper presents the first ever attempt to present a likely cost for saving our oceans and a likely estimate of the funding gap for implementing SDG 14 until 2030. This paper also presents an analysis of this funding gap and recommendations for bridging it. It concludes with an estimate of US$174.52 billion per year needed for the health of our oceans. Knowing the resourcing requirements, efforts can be further stepped up and better targeted by different stakeholders, contributing thus to better conservation and sustainable use of our oceans.

IMPLEMENTATION OF PRESIDENTIAL REGULATION NUMBER 83 OF 2018 CONCERNING HANDLING OF SEA WAS IN ORDER TO PROVIDE PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION OF THE SEA ENVIRONMENT FOR INDONESIA


 
 
 Countries are burdened with the obligation to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment caused by various sources. Countries can be held responsible for actions that cause pollution of the marine environment either intentionally or unintentionally because the State has an obligation to prevent activities that can cause pollution or damage to the environment in its territory and outside its jurisdiction. Based on existing data, plastic waste that can be produced in Indonesian waters reaches 1.65 million tons / year. Research data has outlined the distribution of plastic waste in several countries, one of which is Indonesia. In the survey conducted, Indonesia was the second country after China with a high amount of plastic waste not managed well. The Government of Indonesia has issued Presidential Regulation No. 83 of 2018, on handling marine waste, and contains the National Action Plan 2018-2025 involving various Ministries / Institutions and Local Governments. As the host of the Our Ocean Conference 2018 meeting, out of 22 Commitments delivered by Indonesia, 5 of them were commitments related to efforts to tackle plastic waste at sea. Implementation of Presidential Regulation Number 8 of 2018 is important to be carried out to overcome marine waste in Indonesia, besides that the application of this Presidential Regulation will prove Indonesia's commitment in the eyes of the international world in keeping the sea healthy. Not only in making rules, but also in the concrete steps of the rules.
 
 

High-profile international commitments for ocean protection: Empty promises or meaningful progress?

As 2020 approaches, countries are accelerating their commitments to protect 10% of the ocean by establishing and expanding marine protected areas (MPAs) and other area-based protections. Since it began in 2014, the Our Ocean Conference (OOC) has become a high-profile platform to announce ocean commitments. To evaluate the impact of these promises, this analysis asked: (1) What are the MPA commitments? (2) Who is making them? (3) Have these announcements been followed by action? and (4) Have they contributed significantly to ocean protection? A systematic review of the 143 MPA announcements made at the four OOCs between 2014 and 2017 (and the 202 individual actions they encompassed) concluded that the numbers and sectors of announcers, as well as the types of actions, increased over time. Fifty-two countries and 52 other organizations made OOC commitments, 46% of which have been completed and 56% of which are still incomplete. Thirteen countries and 17 organizations have completed all of their actions. All organizations and 48 out of 52 countries have made some progress on their actions, but no evidence of progress could be found for actions from four countries. OOC announcements have promised to protect 3.4% of the ocean (12,279,931 km2). To date, 43% of that promised area has been implemented, with another 57% yet to be implemented. Based on these findings, a number of actions are recommended to improve the clarity and traceability of OOC announcements, facilitate the monitoring of outcomes, and deliver on the promise of accountability emphasized at the OOCs.

The disjuncture between regional ocean priorities and development assistance in the South Pacific

Global degradation of the ocean has outpaced developments in ocean governance. Although ocean policies in the South Pacific are well developed, there is negligible knowledge of the overall portfolio of initiatives and investment, especially in relation to Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG14; “life under water”). To assess past and future ocean-related activities in the Pacific region for refining future priorities, data for 14 Pacific island countries and territories was collated on (i) development-financed ocean-related projects active from 1997 to 2017, and (ii) Voluntary Commitments from the United Nations Oceans Conference of 2017. Across the 14 studied countries, there was a disjuncture between development-financed regional projects led by Intergovernmental Organisations and the predominantly government-led and single-country Voluntary Commitments. Projects supported by development finance in the Pacific region had a very narrow range of SDG14 targets, while the SDG14 targets of the Voluntary Commitments were much more widely spread over these targets. With well-developed Pacific Ocean policies, the role of SDG14 in the Pacific is specifically as a catalyst for transformative change. This requires shifting narrow development partner interests towards more innovative, self-sustainable and paradigm-changing investments. The opportunities afforded by SDG14 will be different in other oceans, however, effective global delivery requires clearer articulation of the role of SDG14 as the “game changer”.

Ocean plastics pact under fire

More than 290 corporations responsible for 20% of the world’s plastic packaging have signed the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment to recycle more plastic as part of a series of measures to curb ocean pollution. Environmental organizations are criticizing the agreement, though, for being light on targets and sidestepping any reduction in the volume of virgin plastic being produced. Signed on Oct. 29 at the Our Ocean Conference in Bali, Indonesia, the agreement sets companies on a path to recycle more plastic and eliminate plastic items that are not needed. The agreement includes a clause that incineration, waste-to-energy, and plastic-to-fuel operations cannot be considered a form of recycling. Millions of tons of plastic enters the oceans each year. Signatories included Coca-Cola, Nestle, PepsiCo, Target, Unilever, and Walmart. The agreement was brokered by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a British charitable organization, in association with the United Nations. The commitment is the

Sustainable financing of a national Marine Protected Area network in Fiji

Marine Protected Areas (MPA) are mostly studied from an environmental context. A review of available information identified a lack of knowledge in sustainable mechanisms to finance MPA networks. At the United Nations Ocean Conference in 2017, Fiji reaffirmed its voluntary commitment to make 30% of its inshore and offshore marine area MPAs by 2020 under Sustainable Development Goal 14. The work presented here uses empirical data to explore potential benefits from selected community-based MPAs to recipient local stakeholders. A Willingness to Pay (WTP) and Willingness to Contribute Time (WtCT) method was used to explore the extent to which bottom-up governance systems represent a potential financing mechanism of a MPA network. Results of 115 interviews concluded that proximity to a fishing market, dependence on marine resources, food security, income and international commitments were significant variables influencing stakeholder's WTP and WtCT to manage a MPA. We argue that there is a discrepancy between WtCT and WTP driven by income constraints. Thus, by using WTP and WtCT to support financing of a MPA network, a Provincial Trust Fund (PTF) could promote an equitable and benefits-based contribution. Equally important, a PTF has a polycentric and decentralized governance model, which endorses sustainable management of traditional fishing communities. The conclusions provide insight into a bottom-up approach for long-term financial sustainability of Fiji's national MPA commitments.

Beating pollution by redesign

Over 8 million tons of plastic pollute the oceans each year. The problem is so severe that, if nothing changes, there could be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050. We must urgently rethink how we make and use this ubiquitous material, now a staple of our modern economy. The appetite to take action is real: public and private sector financial commitments to combat ocean pollution made at the European Union's Our Ocean conference this year, for instance, totalled 7.2 billion euros. Yet if cleaning up is a short-term necessity, only a whole system reset will provide a long-term solution to plastics pollution and the economic losses associated with it.

Voluntary Commitments (VCs) under the UN Oceans Conference- Are VCs Advancing the Implementation of SDG 14?

The high-level United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14: Conserve and sustainable use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development took place in New York in June 2017. While promising to be solutions-focused with engagement from all, it aimed at slowing down the decline in the health of the oceans, for the people, the planet and prosperity; and its outcome document “Our Ocean, Our Future: Call for Action†and the approximate 1,400 registered voluntary commitments (VCs) have been praised by the UN as a “global breakthrough on the path for the health of our oceans and seas†.

Ocean Conference: Our best and last chance to get things right Interview - Peter Thomson, President of the UN General Assembly

Peter Thomson assumed his current one-year term as the 71st president of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2016. Before that Mr. Thomson had served since 2010 as Fiji’s permanent representative to the United Nations and its ambassador to Cuba. Africa Renewal’s Masimba Tafirenyika sat down with Mr. Thomson in New York to discuss preparations for the Ocean Conference to be co-hosted by the governments of Fiji and Sweden at UN headquarters from 5 to 9 June 2017. The UN Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, as it is officially called, coincides with World Oceans Day (June 8). SDG 14 deals with the conservation and use of oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. The following are excerpts from the interview.

A Conference to #SaveOurOcean

From 5 to 9 June 2017, the United Nations will convene a major meeting to promote ocean sustainability. The United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development—better known as the Ocean Conference— will be the first United Nations forum of its kind on the issue, and an important step in reversing the decline of our oceans.

Arthropod diversity associated with the non-indigenous macroalgae Asparagopsis armata Harvey, along the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula

Arthropod diversity associated with the non-indigenous macroalgae Asparagopsis armata Harvey, along the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula

Contrasting microbiomes in sponges with similar bacteria-mediated calcium-carbonate spherules from temperate and tropical oceans

Contrasting microbiomes in sponges with similar bacteria-mediated calcium-carbonate spherules from temperate and tropical oceans

The Sixth Oceanic Conference on International Studies: transitions in the Asia Pacific

The Sixth Oceanic Conference on International Studies (OCIS) was held in Melbourne, Australia between 9 and 11 July 2014. The conference was hosted by the School of Social and Political Sciences at...