The 10th Our Ocean Conference, which recently took place in Busan, Korea, has confirmed USD 9.1 billion (EUR 8 billion) in commitments to actions toward a more sustainable ocean, conference organizers said.
The Our Ocean Conference is a gathering of governments, NGOs, international groups, private sector groups, and academia hosted by the Ocean Program at the World Resources Institute. First taking place in 2014, it brings together roughly 1,000 global leaders to address topics like marine pollution, biodiversity, and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
This year, the conference garnered 277 new commitments toward ocean action, the organizers said.
“Commitments were made by more than 60 different countries and organizations across six key ocean action areas: Ocean Climate Nexus, Marine Pollution, Marine Protected Area, Sustainable Blue Economy, Sustainable Fisheries, and Maritime Security,” the conference organizers said.
The new commitments add to an existing USD 160 billion (EUR 141 billion) which has been mobilized since 2014.
The highest commitment area was for developing a sustainable blue economy, which received USD 4.5 billion (EUR 3.9 billion) in commitments. The conference organizers said the pledges ranged from supporting ocean entrepreneurship and developing blue economy frameworks to enhancing small-scale fisheries and aquaculture operations.
Research and development also garnered commitments from 30 different groups who pledged to work on funding research on understanding fisheries, biodiversity, marine pollution, and more.
Other commitments included 20 commitments focusing on improving maritime security to counter IUU fishing, and 10 commitments establishing or expanding marine environmental education or career training programs.
“Since the inaugural Our Ocean Conference in the United States in 2014, over 2,600 voluntary commitments have been announced at subsequent conferences held in Chile, the European Union, Indonesia, Norway, Palau, and Greece. Today, the conference serves as a leading platform for establishing global ocean norms,” the organizers said. “For ten years, the Our Ocean Conference has been an effective and consistent mechanism for generating marine conservation ambition.”
