Francesco Ungaro on Unsplash
Delivering a Sea - Change: A G7 Ocean Finance Deal
Europe Jacques Delors Institute & ORRAA
Marine biodiversity is exposed to multiple stressors including overexploitation, pollution, and climate change, as described in the recent IPCC reports on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate as well as the February Sixth Assessment Report on Impact, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Several efforts are underway at the United Nations to improve and expand ocean governance, including ongoing negotiations towards a United Nations Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction, efforts to put in place a plastics treaty, and at the World Trade Organisation, to end harmful fishing subsidies. Achieving goal 14 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 14): “Life below Water”, will be addressed at the UN Ocean Conference in June 2022, yet less than one per cent of climate finance is currently invested into ocean and coastal natural capital and SDG 14 receives the least funding of any of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The German G7 presidency has proposed a G7 “Ocean Deal” in order to forge ahead with joint initiatives for ocean conservation and against marine pollution. The recent 'back to blue initiative' report entitled “Marine Chemical Pollution the Invisible Wave” outlines the severity of the threats to the marine environment and comes on the heels of new research confirming that the focus on the development of the ‘blue economy’, or ‘blue acceleration’ is skewed and inequitable, and that we are breaching planetary boundaries also by introducing novel entities into the environment, including into the ocean.
To tackle these challenges and achieve many of the goals they are designed to address, an ocean finance package is a critical element of the G7 Ocean deal. Without it, achieving SDG 14’s targets or meeting the challenges being faced by the ocean from a changing climate, will be unattainable.
Access the full report here
← Older Post Newer Post →