The UN has launched a process to follow up on the outcome of the Ocean Conference and the 1,400 commitments made by governments, the United Nations system, civil society organizations, academia, the scientific community, and the private sector.
At the Ocean Conference, 193 Member States of the United Nations committed to a set of ambitious measures that will begin the reversal of the decline of the ocean’s health. The Conference outcome document – Our Ocean, Our Future: Call for Action – together with close to 1,400 voluntary commitments for concrete action made by, marked a global breakthrough in the management and conservation of the ocean, and for advancing implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14).
The Ocean conference follow-up envisions the creation of virtual communities that coalesce around specific issues, such as the protection and conservation of mangroves, coral reefs, or the reduction of plastic pollution in the oceans. The virtual communities will be sustained by a series of webinars and face=to-face meetings on a regular basis where all actors can share updates on the implementation of their voluntary commitments and share lessons learned and best practices.
More than 50 participants from governments, UN system and other stakeholders took part in the first webinar which focused on mangroves.