Co-Chair José María Figueres provided a detailed overview of the Commission’s final report and the eight proposals that the Commission has proposed, which if fully implemented will restore and protect not only the high seas but the global ocean as well.
The purpose of this event was to present and discuss the Commission’s report and proposals that were released earlier this year as a road map for protecting and sustainably managing the global ocean.
This was followed by a roundtable meeting with key government representatives involved in ocean-related UN negotiations from over 20 countries, and was organized jointly by the Global Ocean Commission, Prince Albert II Foundation, and the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Prince Albert II of Monaco was joined by Global Ocean Commission Co-chair José María Figueres and Commissioner Robert Hill.
José María Figueres provided a detailed overview of the Commission’s final report commenting on the series of factors which has lead us to the current health of the ocean (i.e. the Global Ocean Commission’s narrative of ocean decline) and the eight proposals that the Commission has proposed, and which if fully implemented will restore and protect not only the high seas but the global ocean as well.
Following his presentation, José María Figueres joined a panel to discuss the proposals, and the issues he raised, in greater detail and to allow for participants to engage and discuss these further. The panel was moderated by Wendy Watson-Wright (Assistant Director General and Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO), with the additional panel members of Global Ocean Commissioner Robert Hill, Guido Schmidt-Traub (Executive Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solution Network) and Amir Dossal (Chairman, Global Partnerships Forum). There was a lively discussion with great interest from the assembled participants with clear and vocal support for the Commission’s proposals.
This event served to inform and enthuse participants on the issues of the high seas particularly in light of the importance of 2015 when the United Nations will decide on whether to launch negotiations for a new implementing agreement for the conservation and sustainable use of high seas biodiversity (if you have not done so yet, please sign the Global Ocean petition at Mission Ocean).
The UN will also adopt new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will hopefully include a stand alone ocean goal with associated targets and indicators. The ocean SDG and a new implementing agreement are both actively being sought and promoted by the Global Ocean Commission as well as by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.
