The 2022 UN Ocean Conference

Ocean, as a crucial agent for earth-system resilience and giant sink for greenhouse gas emissions, plays a key role in preserving biodiversity and tackling climate change. Meanwhile, excessive absorption of CO2 particularly emitted from human activities has made our ocean warmer and suffer from deoxygenation and acidification. Addressing climate change and its impacts on the oceans remains one of the most significant challenges to achieving the 2030 Agenda and Goal 14. The intricate and symbiotic link between ocean and climate change has also been showcased in many aspects throughout the preparation of the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon.

 

As coastal communities are at the front lines of the climate crisis, the need for more urgent and more innovative solutions to protect the ocean and build resilience is a core message at COP26 and will be considered further at the UN Ocean Conference, to be held 27 June to 1 July 2022 in Lisbon, Portugal. Representatives from Kenya and Portugal—the co-hosts of the conference—spoke of the need for more long-term partnerships for Sustainable Development Goal 14 for the ocean at a session Friday at the SDG Pavilion coordinated by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA). Ricardo Serrão Santos, the Minister of the Sea of Portugal, and Nancy Karigithu, Principal Secretary, State Department for Shipping and Maritime, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of Kenya, encouraged countries, businesses and other organizations to make ambitious commitments for the ocean, building on the more than 1,500 commitments made at the 2017 UN Ocean Conference. LIU Zhenmin, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and head of UN DESA, said, “As the Secretary-General of the Ocean Conference, I am determined to ensure that the Conference contributes to promoting science-based solutions, innovations, and partnerships. These are sorely needed to meet the challenges of climate change and the declining health of the ocean.” SDG 14, after all, calls for sustainably managing our ocean resources in a way that’s “all about balance," said Peter Thomson, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean. “All of our governments agreed to this back in 2015, and our job is to implement it.” The 2022 Ocean Conference will be “our moment of honesty” on how we are doing in its implementation, Thomson said. For more information and a video of the event, please visit this link: https://www.un.org/en/cop26/page/programme

Mr. Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and Conference Secretary-General of the 2022 UN Ocean Conference

H.E. Mr. Ricardo Serrão Santos, Minister of the Sea of Portugal

H.E. Mrs. Nancy Karigithu, Principal Secretary, State Department for Shipping and Maritime, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of Kenya

Ambassador Peter Thomson, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean