Ocean Conference

The annual discharge of plastic into the ocean is estimated to be 11 million tonnes. Globally, national plastics policies are rare and tend to focus on banning or taxing individual plastic items rather than focusing on systemic change of the plastics economy. Indeed, the current policy mix will not deliver the changes needed to reduce additional marine plastic litter to zero. However, marine plastic litter entering the ocean can be reduced exponentially compared to “business as usual” using known technology and approaches. This publication qualitatively considers possible policy options to ensure that by 2050 the net volume of plastic entering the ocean is zero, in line with the Osaka Blue Ocean Vision. It shows the marine plastic litter trends relevant to 2050, summarizes the current plastic policy landscape and explores upstream and downstream interventions, concluding with a set of policy messages to deliver on the Vision and implement the systemic changes needed to improve the plastic economy.

The second World Ocean Assessment is a collaborative effort of hundreds of experts from all regions of the world, a comprehensive and integrated assessment of the state of marine environment. It is the product of the second cycle of the Regular Process for global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment, including socio-economic aspects (Regular Process) established after the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development to regularly review the environmental, economic and social aspects of the world’s oceans, both current and foreseeable. Its purpose is to strengthen the regular scientific assessment of the state of the marine environment in order to enhance the scientific basis for policymaking and thus contribute to the sustainable management of human activities that affect the oceans and seas.

Conservation measures to protect marine life are already paying off. These actions have made it possible to halt the decline of some species and re-establish degraded marine ecosystems. But restoring the health of the ocean on a large scale requires a more active fight against pollution, overfishing and the effects of climate change.

For a long time, we believed the ocean was a silent world. On the contrary, sounds play a crucial role for many marine organisms. But the noise generated by human activities is jeopardizing the survival of certain species. Michel André, acoustician and director of the Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics (LAB) at the Technical University of Catalonia in Barcelona, warns of the dangers of this noise pollution.

A review of the existing goods and services classifications has shown that ocean-based industries are included in all BPM6, CPC, HS, ISIC and W/120 classifications. The identification of codes that form a part of ocean-based economies is not straightforward and may thus vary from one country to another. In most cases, the identification of goods and services requires substantive levels of technical and practical knowledge within each sector. As it is, countries wishing to assess their ocean economy quantitatively will need to invest first in identifying relevant goods and services codes. At the global level, a comprehensive cross-country assessment of the ocean economy is not yet possible. Furthermore, research on ocean-based sectors has shown that their legal and institutional frameworks tend to be structured in isolation from each other. This is true particularly in the case of non-traditional sectors, as they are diverse, and little is known about them.

There can be several pathways towards developing a detailed classification of oceanbased goods and services, depending on national and local priorities and goals. Ocean-based economic sectors can be classified according to their nature, for instance, sectors involving the harvesting of living resources or those dealing with the extraction of non-living resources. They can also be classified based on already established and emerging sectors. In addition, economies may differentiate between industries that use resources from the ocean, activities that take place in the ocean or coastal areas, and activities linked to the ocean (Colgan, 2016).

This publication provides a foundation for filling information and data gap on trade in oceans-based sectors with the aim of facilitating its sustainable development within and across borders. The publication sets forth a Sustainable Oceans Economy classification for tradable goods and services, which can be used by all countries at any point in time. Moreover, it has been conceptualized with consideration for its application for the design of coherent policies, the assessment of oceans sustainability pillars, and the comprehensive analysis of value chains of oceans-based sectors (goods and services).

New Scientific Report – Impact of Sand and Dust Storms on Oceans. Each year, an estimated two billion tonnes of sand and dust is raised into the atmosphere; and one-quarter of this reaches the oceans. With the aim to help policy-makers in their efforts to tackle this widespread challenge, UNEP’s Science Division assessed the latest scientific knowledge on the impact of these large dust clouds on the oceans. A problem that affects the health of marine systems around the world and the well-being of the people that depend on them for their survival. Hence, on the 6th of November 2020, UNEP launched its report, titled Impacts of Sand and Dust Storms on Oceans: A Scientific Environmental Assessment for Policy Makers. It was authored by University of Oxford scientist Nick Middleton and reviewed by dozens of experts from around the globe. During the development of the report, UNEP received technical support from the GESAMP, the GPA and the GPNM. It was published within the framework of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030.

In the wake of the sustainability movement, many companies are now striving to change their business models to minimize their ecological footprint. Nevertheless, biodiversity conservation tends not to be among their top priority. This is a dilemma as halting biodiversity loss is a global priority that is directly referenced in United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 14 and 15 (life below water and life on land), but also in other SDGs.