Languages

SDG

UN Ocean Conference: Day 2

Continuing on the tone set during the first day of the UN Ocean Conference, day two showed the engagement and commitment of many nation states, NGOs, businesses and other stakeholders to achieving SDG 14 ‘Life Below Water’. It featured two important plenary meetings and partnership dialogues addressing targets 14.2 and 14.3: managing, protecting, conserving and restoring marine and coastal ecosystems, and minimizing and addressing ocean acidification. During those meetings, the need for enhanced international cooperation to address the common challenges were emphasized; with, for example countries such as the Soloman Islands, Israel, Tuvalu and Estonia expressing commitments to minimize ocean acidification.

The UN Oceans Conference and Sustainable Development Goals: Are partnerships providing the way forward?

The global oceans provide hundreds of millions of people with livelihoods, food and nutritional security, and are crucial for employment, economic development, and export earnings in many countries and coastal communities around the world. The status of these important ecosystems and its fisheries resources are however rapidly declining, following decades of unsustainable exploitation patterns, overcapacity, and unsuccessful governance interventions.

Side Event at the UN Ocean Conference Preparatory Meeting

The Nereus Program facilitated a side event on February 16 entitled: “Co-Benefits of Achieving SDG Goal 14 to Wider SDGs: Prioritizing Action Given Climate Change and Social Inequity”. The theme of the event was implications of changing oceans on the advancement of SDG’s, with an emphasis on the co-benefits of achieving ocean targets on other environmental, economic, and social equity goals.