SDGs in focus: SDG 14 and interlinkages with other SDGs – Life below water

The 2017 HLPF – when SDG 14 was last reviewed – highlighted the multiple impacts of human pressures, including climate change, ocean acidification, overfishing and marine pollution, on coastal and marine ecosystems. These pressures were seen as compromising the gains made in the sustainable management of ecosystems and in conservation efforts, including the effectiveness of marine protected areas. While positive gains for oceans and communities had been achieved locally, global trends in rising pressures largely overshadowed those gains. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic in many ways has added to the pressures including through the surge of biomedical plastic waste [e.g., masks] and disposable single-use plastics utilized to minimize exposure to the virus.

Against this background and building on the outcomes of the Ocean Conference in Lisbon, the discussions at the HLPF SDG 14 session will aim to reinvigorate commitment and action towards achieving SDG 14, and to set the foundation for collaborative framework that is innovative and well supported financially and otherwise.

Proposed guiding questions:

What has changed since the SDG was last reviewed in 2017 including in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic?
What are the next steps regarding SDG 14 targets that have now expired?
How can we best utilize the momentum from the Ocean Conference to strengthen the science - policy interface to support sustainable ocean management?
Building on the UN Ocean Conference, what are the interlinkages with other SDGs and opportunities to leverage synergies and minimize trade-offs?
What are the key actions, partnerships, and financing frameworks for enhancing COVID-19 recovery, sustainable economic development and ocean health?
How can ocean action better support gender equality?

Chair:

H.E. Mr. Collen Vixen Kapile, President of the Economic and Social Council

Keynote address:

Ms. Sylvia Earle, Marine Biologist and Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society

Outcomes of the UN Ocean Conference:

Mr. Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations

Highlights:

Ms. Angela Paolini Ellard, Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (on results of the WTO 12th Ministerial Conference)
Highlights of the report of the Secretary-General on progress towards the SDGs – SDG 14 on Life below water
Ms. Heather Page, Statistics Division of UNDESA

Interactive panel discussion

Moderator:

Mr. Angus Friday, Blue Economy Director, Waitt Institute

Resource Persons:

H.E. Mr. Peter Thomson, United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Ocean
Mr. J. Charles Fox, Executive Director of Oceans 5
Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
Mr. Vladimir Ryabinin, Executive Secretary, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO
Ms. Sanda Ojiambo, CEO & Executive Director, United Nations Global Compact

Lead Discussants:

Ms. Valerie Hickey, Manager for Advisory and Operations, Climate Change Group, World Bank Group
Mr. Martin Visbeck, Head of research unit Physical Oceanography at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and professor at Kiel University, Germany (MGoS)

Interventions of other Ministers and participants (3 minutes each)