Healthy, productive, and resilient ocean and seas, supporting human development, poverty eradication, and economic growth, whilst preserving essential ecological goods and services, are critical to all and therefore a universal agenda. Despite increasing efforts at international, regional, national, and sub-national levels, the health and well-being of the ocean and seas have declined throughout the decades, compromising the many benefits and services that they provide to the global community. Building on the momentum of the Rio+20 Conference, several proposals have been put forward on a stand-alone SDG on Ocean and Seas to implement the mandate given at Rio+20. Given the centrality of the ocean in global and national sustainable development and planetary survival, an SDG on Ocean and Seas would provide a new impetus for the integration of the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, and overcoming deficits of sector-specific goals or approaches, which has been the main approach, thus far, to managing the ocean and seas. Through an SDG on Ocean and Seas, strategies that help eradicate poverty, sustain economic growth, enhance social inclusion, improve human welfare, and create job opportunities, while maintaining the healthy functioning of the ocean and seas, could be implemented. An SDG on Ocean and Seas would build on the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals by making healthy, productive, and resilient ocean and seas an explicit part of the world’s sustainable development agenda.
PSIDS and Timor-Leste, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, and Global Ocean Forum Side Event on Towards a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on Oceans and Seas: Healthy, Productive and Resilient Oceans and Seas- Prosperous and Resilient Peoples and Communities at the 8th Session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals 3-7 February 2014.
Presentations:
- The Imperative for a Healthy, Productive and Resilient Oceans and Seas SDG, H.E. Mrs. Makurita Baaro, Permanent Representative of Kiribati to the United Nations on behalf of the Pacific Small Island Developing States and Timor Leste
- Keeping Track of Ocean Health and Services, Dr. Wendy Watson-Wright, IOC/UNESCO
- The Centrality of Oceans for Sustainable Development: Civil Society Perspectives on an SDG on Oceans, Dr. Biliana Cicin-Sain, Global Ocean Forum
- Blue Globe-Blue Growth-Blue Goal!, Dr. Arni Mathiesen, Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, FAO
- Securing Blue Wealth: The Need for a Special Sustainable Development Goal on Oceans and Seas: Possible Targets and Indicators, Prof. Martin Visbeck, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Kiel, Germany, and International Council of Science (ICSU)
Global Ocean Forum Proposal for a Sustainable Development Goal on Oceans and Seas
A Review of Member States’ Perspectives on a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on Oceans and Seas