One Ocean Summit                                                                  

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Context: France hosted the 'One Planet' Summit dedicated to the Ocean, called the One Ocean Summit.

Key details of Summit:

• Aims/ Goal:
  • to mobilize the international community and take concrete action to reduce adverse effects on the ocean, raising its level of ambition on maritime issues.
  • to raise the collective level of ambition of the international community on marine issues and to translate shared responsibility to the ocean into tangible commitments.
• It focused on the protection of marine ecosystems and sustainable fisheries, the fight against pollution (especially plastic), climate change, and ocean governance.
• It was held in the context of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, with the support of the United Nations.
• It brought together determined group of Heads of State and Government, leaders of multilateral institutions, business leaders and civil society policymakers to take ambitious commitments.
• Initiatives taken for: marine ecosystem protection and sustainable fisheries, fight plastic pollution, climate change, improved governance of the oceans.

Why ocean matters?

• Ocean covers more than 70% of the surface of our planet, yet often remains on the sidelines of international events.
• Environmental role: Ocean is a regulator of major environmental balances and climate, provider of resources, an important enabler of trade, and an essential link between countries and human communities.
• Threats to ocean: climate change, pollution or the overexploitation of marine resources.

Key outcomes:

• UNESCO: It has announced that at least 80% of the seabed will be mapped by 2030, compared to 20% currently, in collaboration with other UN bodies and the private sector. UNESCO is the UN agency in charge of ocean sciences.
• Coalition on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ): This initiative underlines the EU's role as the leading actor on global marine conservation.
• Zero-tolerance towards illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is EU's ambitious policy for sustainable management of marine resources.
• For addressing plastic pollution: The EU has adopted two main priorities: decreasing plastic pollution and accelerating the transition to a circular economy.
• Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030”: It aims to ensure that the ocean plays a central role in meeting the 2030 targets of the European Green Deal. It is aimed at developing and testing solutions in support of protecting 30% of the EU's sea area, restoring marine and waterway ecosystems, reducing plastic litter at sea, nutrient losses and use of chemical pesticides by 50%, and making the blue economy climate-neutral and circular.
• European Digital Twin Ocean: digital ocean platform to place the EU as a digital champion for the ocean.
• EU4Ocean coalition: to enhance ocean literacy by education and investing in research.

https://sdg.iisd.org/events/one-ocean-summit/