United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC): heads of state and civil society meet in Lisbon to “open a new chapter of global ocean action”

After a two-year delay due to the COVID19 pandemic, the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) will be held from 27 June to 1 July 2022 in Lisbon. Hosted by the governments of Portugal and Kenya, the conference will stimulate collective “responsibility” to scale-up action for “our ocean” and “our future” as part of the 2030 Agenda and the United Nations Decade of Ocean Sciences for Sustainable Development. The 15 heads of states and 12,000 participants expected to attend will be tasked, according to Peter Thomson, United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, with “providing solutions” to the growing impacts of climate change and human activities on the ocean. While ocean health and a sustainable blue economy are essential to achieve the targets of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Ocean & Climate Platform’s members will be mobilised during this week to promote an “ocean of solutions” including marine ecosystem restoration, regenerative aquaculture and knowledge production and sharing.

 

A summit to address the impacts of climate change and human activities on the ocean

As highlighted in 2017 at the first United Nations Ocean Conference and reinforced by the IPCC, the ocean is at the crossroads of climate, environmental and sustainable development challenges. As the world’s largest reservoir of biodiversity, the ocean plays a critical role in climate regulation and is vital to human societies by ensuring food and economic security for communities that rely on it, and by enabling the transport of goods and commodities across the world. The window of opportunity to meet the Paris Agreement targets and the Sustainable Development Goals is narrowing as the health of the ocean declines with increased cumulative impacts of human activities and climate change.

In light of the collective failure to meet several targets of SDG14 by 2020 and the urgency of mitigating and adapting to climate change, the heads of state and government meeting in Lisbon will be tasked with “scaling up ocean action based on science and innovation”, in line with the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) and with the objective to better preserve and sustainably use the ocean which includes tackling acidification, pollution, illegal fishing and loss of habitats and biodiversity.

 

The Ocean & Climate Platform mobilised to promote “an ocean of solutions”

The Ocean & Climate Platform (OCP), alongside its members, will be mobilised to deliver ocean-based and science-informed solutions to the joint climate and biodiversity crises. This week will start in Matosinhos on Sunday 25 June with a first event on coastal adaptation “Localizing Action for the Ocean”. This will be an opportunity to discuss financial innovation and the integration of nature-based solutions into coastal cities’ adaptation strategies. After covering issues of sustainable fisheries management and aquaculture, as well as ocean literacy, the OCP and its members will conclude this week on Thursday 30 June at 5:00 pm at the Lisbon Maritime Museum to discuss knowledge and ocean governance as part of the event “The need for an International Panel for Ocean Sustainability”. The latter will be followed by the event “Ocean of Solutions to Tackle the Climate & Biodiversity Crises”, showcasing a dozen initiatives carried out by OCP members, including marine resources community-based management projects, conservation financing tools and ocean forecast models. 

 

From Lisbon to Sharm el-Sheikh: keeping the 1.5°C target alive

Throughout this week in Lisbon, the OCP will urge for the pressing need to accelerate climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. It will do so by contributing to the interactive dialogue “Minimising and addressing ocean acidification, deoxygenation and ocean warming” (Wednesday 29 June, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm) and by taking stock of international climate and ocean action ahead of COP27. First, the OCP will draw on conclusions from the One Ocean Summit at the conference “OCÉAN: From Brest to Lisbon, building on the achievements of the One Ocean Summit” (Sunday 26 June, 11:30 am – 3:00 pm); then from the Paris Agreement at the event “Blueing the Paris Agreement” (Monday 27 June, 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm). Additionally, with the Ocean-Climate Dialogue of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) held last week in the run-up to COP27, the OCP will bring its main conclusions to the conference “From Lisbon to Sharm el-Sheikh: accelerating ocean-based climate solutions” (Monday 27 June, 5:30 pm -7:00 pm).

The Lisbon conference is a decisive step in bringing the ocean-climate nexus to the table prior to states and governments meeting next November at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. With this in mind, the OCP will continue to push the ocean cause forward and recall the commitment made by States in November 2021 to scale up their ambitions to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C and increase their financial support for climate change mitigation and adaptation. With the Lisbon conference urging greater action for the ocean, COP27 must seize the solutions brought forward at this international summit to simultaneously achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda.