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Ocean Unite

KEY ISSUES

Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water

coral reef

 

In 2015 the world’s governments agreed to a set of global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including UN Ocean Goal Number 14, to set their focus for the coming decades on efforts to fight poverty and create a greener, fairer planet. SDG14 recognizes the critical role of the Ocean for our planet and humanity. ACTION is the key word here. The Ocean is everybody’s business and all of us (Joe Public, governments and businesses) need to take concrete action and invest in its future health, ensuring that the SDG’s 17 goals and 169 targets become a reality. 2020 was the year for four of the ten SDG14 targets and it is evident that they have not been met. Despite the target deadlines having passed, there is no time to lose in taking global action to drive action on SDG14. It will help Ocean life regenerate, having benefits that extend across communities and beyond borders for generations to come.

SDG14 is a critical first step towards recovery. In 2020, the most comprehensive and ambitiously practical plan to regenerate Ocean health was released by globally diverse stakeholders working around the world. RISE UP is a prescription for Ocean health providing a blueprint for the ambitious actions that must be taken to recover the blue heart of our Ocean Planet.

TALKING POINTS

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  • In September 2015, world leaders adopted new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to combat poverty and promote a greener, fairer future, replacing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which expired at the end of 2015.
  • The 17 goals and 169 targets were debated by UN member states, civil society and business representatives for three years. Implementation of the sustainable development agenda began on 1 January 2016.
  • The UN has estimated that the new goals could cost as much as US$172.5 trillion over the 15‐year timeframe.
  • The Ocean was given a marginal role within the MDGs, despite its significant contribution to sustainable development. However, things have changed. Led by Small Island States, SDG14 is singularly focused on the Ocean: “Conserve and sustainably use the Oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”.
  • SDG14 recognizes that poverty eradication and sustainable development cannot be ended without safeguarding our Ocean and seas.
  • The targets under the goal reflect common sense. Translated into plain English, they are (click here for the full UN text):
    • Reduce sea pollution;
    • Protect and nurture all sea life so that the Ocean can continue to support us [by supporting at least 30% of the Ocean strongly protected by 2030];
    • Reduce the damage caused by Ocean acidification, which results from carbon dioxide (CO2);
    • Look after stocks of fish so that they continue to feed us into the future;
    • Use scientific knowledge and existing laws to protect life in the most vulnerable areas of the seas and invest in and build coastal resilience;
    • Stop governments supporting overfishing and illegal fishing though their use of fisheries subsidies;
    • Help the poorest countries use the sea’s resources wisely so that it brings them benefits well into the future;
    • Improve scientific understanding of the Ocean, to maximize its health and contribution to world economies;
    • Help local fisherman have their share;
    • Make sure that existing laws are used to conserve Ocean resources and make new ones to close the gaps.
  • The Ocean SDG14 is relevant to many other goals. Without a healthy Ocean we won’t be able to:
    • End hunger, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture;
    • Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth;
    • Promote sustainable infrastructure and industrialization and foster innovation;
    • Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable;
    • Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns or halt biodiversity loss.

The Importance

  • An Ocean SDG places the critical role of the Ocean to our planet and humanity squarely in the post-2015 development agenda and provides a framework to orient development of new measures to tackle existing governance gaps like those for the High Seas.
  • An Ocean SDG alone is not enough to guarantee a secure future for the global Ocean but it garners valuable recognition of the importance of the Ocean, and helps build momentum and the need to prioritize resources.
  • By reducing the pressure from many of the direct stressors on Ocean life from human activities – like industrial fishing – the SDG Ocean targets will help to support resilience and abundance, regenerating Ocean life with benefits that extend across communities and beyond borders.
  • The Ocean is like the Earth’s circulatory system; it provides us with food, fresh water, energy, medicine and the oxygen in every second breath we take. It links peoples and culture, countries and lives and allows goods and services to be transported around the world.
  • What we also tend to forget, is that the Earth is one living system. Both the physical and biological processes of the Ocean play a key role in the water cycle, the carbon cycle, and climate variability. The microscopic plants that live in the Ocean are responsible for almost half the oxygen we inhale.
  • As a natural carbon sink, the Ocean has absorbed more than 25% of all the CO2 emitted by human activities. Scientists now understand that this comes with a cost to its overall health. The increasing amount of CO2 in the air reacts with seawater, altering its chemistry.
  • Prompt action to combat climate change will be the single most important action we can take to help secure its health. We need to curb carbon emissions and limit climate change damage to ensure a healthy, productive Ocean and to be able to deliver upon the other goals.
  • Saving the Ocean, 70% of the planet, and those who live from and by it, requires monumental shifts in thinking and action. The Ocean has an amazing ability to regenerate itself. We need to help it, and the targets set in the Ocean SDG will help us do just that. The SDG14 target to protect 10% of the Ocean by 2020 while an excellent milestone, does not mesh with the current best available science which supports strongly protecting at least 30% of the Ocean by 2030. In this case, we must all strive to follow the science and view the 10% target as a milestone towards this bigger goal.
  • We also must address the fragmented approach that is currently driving Ocean decline. A concerted effort is required, underpinned by key reforms in global Ocean governance and implemented by governments, civil society and the private sector so that the words on paper become action in the water.
  • Achieving these global goals is not an option: they are a prerequisite for promoting a safer, healthier and fairer world. By giving our Ocean a break from the current trend of business-as-usual and designing a new way forward, we can benefit from it without stripping bare its assets.

Progress to date

  • In the 2020 progress report released by Secretary-General on progress towards the SDGs, the section related to SDG14, progress was summarized as: “Oceans and fisheries continue to support the global population’s economic, social and environmental needs, while suffering unsustainable depletion, environmental deterioration and CO2 saturation and acidification. Current efforts to protect key marine environments, small-scale fishers and invest in Ocean science are not yet meeting the urgent needs to protect this vast, fragile resource.” That’s not a glowing progress report.
  • There were four SDG14 targets due to be met in 2020 and progress to-date is limited:
      • SDG14.2 Protect and restore ecosystems, to sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems. As of 2021 there is no update on progress towards this target.
      • SDG14.4 Sustainable fishing, to effectively end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. As of 2017, 34.2% of fish stocks of world’s marine fisheries were overfished.
      • SDG14.5 Protected marine areas, to conserve at least 10% of coastal and marine areas by 2020. As of 2021, 6.4% of the global Ocean is currently protected, with only 2.7% strongly protected.
      • SDG14.6 End subsidies contributing to overfishing, by prohibiting certain forms of fisheries subsidises which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in person meetings of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) were suspended and the WTO failed to finalize an agreement on how to get rid of harmful fishing subsidies.

ACTION is the key word

  • While the SDGs are not legally binding, they do represent the overarching development norms and priorities of the international community, adopted by consensus.
  • The implementation of the Ocean SDG could prove vital in providing pathways for more effective “systems of governance” for the global Ocean commons.
  • In June 2017, a high-level UN gathering in New York, known as ‘The Ocean Conference’ was hosted by the governments of Fiji and Sweden, to talk about how to support further the implementation of Ocean SDG14 and they agreed to a “Call for Action”.
  • A follow-up UN Ocean conference was originally scheduled to take place in 2020 in Lisbon, hosted by Portugal, but due to delays because of the coronavirus, it will take place at a later date
  • ACTION is the key word here. The Ocean is everybody’s business and all of us (Joe Public, governments and businesses) need to take concrete action and invest in its future health. The clock is ticking… Making commitments is fine, making sure they are followed through on is critical.
  • In 2021 real commitments need to be made that include the financing and resources to deliver on the targets missed in 2020 and those coming up in 2025 and 2030, as well as regular accountability moments that show that we are walking the walk and acting on our commitments.
  • We need to be ambitious and safeguard food security, people’s livelihoods and marine life, and build resilience to climate change by strongly protecting at least 30% of the Ocean by 2030, and ensuring the remaining 70% is sustainably managed.
  • We need to end perverse subsidies that enable illegal fishing and overfishing and secure sustainable access for coastal and indigenous communities dependent on the Ocean for their food security and livelihoods.
  • We need to achieve net zero emissions and 100% renewable energy by 2050 at the very latest, and bring legal protection to High Seas biodiversity through a new UN Treaty that will hopefully be finalized in 2021. We don’t need to debate what needs to happen anymore – we just need to get on and do it!
  • We need to RISE UP – go to riseupfortheocean.org for more information
    • Restore Ocean life
    • Invest immediately in a net-zero carbon emissions future
    • Speed the transition to a circular and sustainable economy
    • Empower and support coastal people
    • Unite for stronger global Ocean governance
    • Protect at least 30% of the Ocean by 2030

To find out more about how the world is doing in implementing the SDG14 check out the SDG tracker.

Safiya Sawney is currently the Caribbean Policy Lead for Ocean Unite. Most recently she was the Ocean and Climate Policy Advisor to the Mission of the Republic of Palau to the United Nations representing the President of Palau at the High-Level Panel for the Sustainable Ocean Economy and leading Palau’s engagement at the UN Secretary General’s 2019 Climate Action Summit. Safiya was also the project coordinator for the UN Office of Project Services providing strategic support towards the 2020 Our Oceans Conference.

Formerly, Safiya was the lead policy advisor on a Blue Economy partnership platform between the Governments of the Netherlands and Grenada with support from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Safiya has fostered many innovative partnerships to spur action on ocean plastics and environmental awareness for small islands states including partnerships with Parley for the Ocean and Adidas, PangeaSeed, UN Environment, United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, and others.

Safiya has provided policy support to Climate Analytics Inc. on Caribbean climate strategies, was the deputy coordinator for the Caribbean team that executed the 2013 Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI) Summit in collaboration with Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Unite and The Nature Conservancy and served as technical advisor to Alliance of Small Island Developing States at the UN.

Jon Bassford, CAE, JD, MBA is an association and nonprofit operations professional. Jon has worked for c3 to c7 organizations across many different roles and responsibilities but has carved out an expertise as an efficient and effective operations professional. Through his consulting firm Lateral Solutions, Jon leads several organizations as a part-time operations director as well as client work in college student/campus outreach, organizational development, innovation, and strategy. Jon has truly carved out an expertise helping organizations launch and run internal operations in an efficient and effective manner using digital tools.
 
Across his membership and operational roles, Jon has 15 years of experience leading organizations.

Renee brings nearly a decade of internal operations experience to the Ocean Unite team. Prior to joining the team, Renee worked for eight years at The Pew Charitable Trusts where she began as an administrative assistant supporting their Shark, Tuna, and Whale conservation campaigns as well as the Senior Director of International Ocean Conservation. Particularly adept at identifying operational issues and developing methods to solve them, Renee moved into an operations role working across Pew’s international Ocean conservation projects, then all their environment conservation projects, and later the breadth of Pew’s programmatic work. She has degrees from California State University, San Bernardino, and Temple University in Philadelphia, and recently relocated from Washington, DC, to the California coast. As hard as this team works to protect our magnificent Ocean, Renee is the only person on the team who lives at the beach and relishes in enjoying the beauty of the Ocean every day.

Brittney is Ocean Unite’s digital and social media manager and is a consultant for Communications Inc. Comms Inc. is an agency which works with the not-for-profit sector, with a particular specialism in the ocean and wider environment. They are well known within the international ocean community and enjoy the trust of, and a working relationship with, most of the large international environmental NGOs and coalitions. Recognised for their ability to deliver fast, cost-effective and productive communications and campaigning, they are particularly valued for their strategic contribution based on a sound understanding of the issues, the political landscape within which the issues exist and a creative approach to bringing about change. (www.communicationsinc.co.uk)

One of the principals of Communications Inc., Sophie has nearly 20 years of experience in strategic communications. Comms Inc., is an agency which works with the not for profit sector, with a particular specialism in the ocean and wider environment. They are well known within the international ocean community and enjoy the trust of, and a working relationship with, most of the large international environmental NGOs and coalitions. Recognised for their ability to deliver fast, cost-effective and productive communications and campaigning, they are particularly valued for their strategic contribution based on a sound understanding of the issues, the political landscape within which the issues exist and a creative approach to bringing about change (www.communicationsinc.co.uk).

Nathalie has almost two decades of experience working in environmental advocacy. She worked for over 15 years for Greenpeace International, focusing mainly on biodiversity issues. For many years she worked as Senior Oceans Political Advisor focusing on international ocean governance and marine conservation. More recently she was the deputy director of the Political and Business Unit. She has wide experience of attending and leading delegations at international environmental meetings, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, and ocean-related negotiations at the UN General Assembly. When asked why she feels strongly about protecting the ocean, she says that not only is it home to the weirdest and most wonderful creatures on the planet, tomorrow’s life-saving drugs could be found at the bottom of the sea, not to mention the discovery of an anti-wrinkle cream that actually works!

Karen has over 25 years of experience working for international non-governmental organisations on environmental issues around the world with a particular focus on protecting marine biodiversity and building resilience to climate change. In 2015, Sack established Ocean Unite, co-founded by Sir Richard Branson and former Costa Rican President José María Figueres, to engage leadership voices and the business community to accelerate ocean health and resilience. Ocean Unite is committed to helping secure the strong protection of 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030. It has also developed a groundbreaking partnership with the insurance sector to address ocean risk.

She was senior director for international oceans at The Pew Charitable Trusts, where she developed their international oceans program including their ending illegal fishing strategy and initiated and was the managing partner of the Global Ocean Commission. Before that she was head of Greenpeace International’s political and business unit and head of their international oceans programme. In 2004, she was the first person from a non-governmental organization to speak at a regular session of the United Nations General Assembly, where she represented the concerns of over 60 environmental organizations from around the world over the plight of our oceans. Karen is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network. She has master’s degrees in international environmental law and in international political economy.