The UK Government has joined other world leaders at the UN Ocean Conference to announce new initiatives to protect the global marine environmen

In order to advance our objective to protect at least 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030, the UK Government joined other world leaders at the UN Ocean Conference to present new measures to safeguard the marine environment.

At the G7 Leaders Summit last year, the government unveiled its ambitious £500 million Blue Planet Fund, which is already assisting vulnerable coastal towns and developing nations worldwide in adapting to climate change and creating sustainable, thriving coastal industries.

A record £150 million will be invested in a new international program called COAST as part of the Fund’s most recent round, which was announced today.

COAST aims to protect and restore important coastal and marine habitats like corals, mangroves, and seagrasses, increase the sustainability and productivity of small-scale fisheries, and assist developing nations in realizing the potential of aquaculture.

Blue Planet funding of up to £100 million will also be used to support the establishment, administration, and enforcement of Marine Protected Areas, which are designed to restrict potentially harmful activity at sea and aid in the recovery of important marine habitats and species, as well as other successful conservation initiatives in developing nations.

Building on this momentum, the UK has declared it would join the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, a worldwide initiative that brings together authorities, companies, financial institutions, the scientific community, and civil society to promote the shift to a sustainable ocean economy.

The state of the world’s oceans is critical, and we have reached a tipping point, according to Lord Zac Goldsmith, Minister for the Pacific and International Environment.

World leaders gathered this week to step up efforts to safeguard the marine environment. However, it is crucial that these agreements are followed through on and that the ocean is kept at the top of the international agenda.

We are assisting nations in addressing a wide range of concerns, from illicit fishing to plastic waste and marine preservation, through our new £500 million Blue Planet Fund.

I’m also happy to announce that the UK will continue to support the effort to conserve 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030, providing up to £100 million for marine preservation and £154 million for coastal restoration.

This week, the UK government joined forces with Canada and the US to form a groundbreaking global alliance to combat IUU fishing, which endangers marine ecosystems, coastal communities, and global fish stocks by weakening fisheries management and distorting commerce.

The IUU Fishing Action Alliance will unite nations spearheading the battle against IUU fishing, nations that are the target of IUU fishing, and organizations that are assisting in the effort.

It will support better monitoring, control, and surveillance measures, acknowledge and enhance current international obligations, and increase the openness of fishing data.

The announcements made today complement ongoing funding for initiatives run by the Blue Planet Fund, including:

To strengthen local scientific knowledge and domestic policies in developing coastal countries, £43 million will be provided through the Ocean-Country Partnership Programme (OCPP).

This will allow them to better manage and mitigate pressures on the marine environment and efforts to achieve sustainable seafood and marine biodiversity.

£36 million will go toward the Sustainable Blue Economies Programme, which will help small island governments build a climate-resilient ocean economy through the preservation of biodiversity, improved ocean management, and more reliance on natural solutions.

The UK will contribute a total of £15 million over the next three years, including £7.5 million to the Global Plastics Action Partnership (GPAP).

In order to stop plastic from entering the ocean, the GPAP, which brings together world leaders, business, and civil society, included the UK as one of its initial donors in 2018.

Background

Under the auspices of the £500 million Blue Planet Fund, the Climate and Ocean Adaptation and Sustainable Transition Programme (COAST) will assist vulnerable coastal communities and developing nations in adapting to climate change and building sustainable coastal industries.

At the UN Ocean Conference, the UK is also making the following announcements:

£6 million will go to the Global Ocean Accounts Partnership (GOAP), which promotes the creation and upkeep of ocean natural capital accounts in underdeveloped nations.

Over the next three years, the UK will give GOAP an additional £6 million, bringing the total UK commitment to £7 million.

The UK has announced joining the Ocean Acidification Alliance.

Together with partners, the UK will collaborate to improve scientific knowledge of ocean acidification and investigate countermeasures that will better safeguard coastal communities and livelihoods throughout the world from the dangers it poses.

The Global Ocean Decade Program for Blue Carbon (GO-BC) was launched.

Under the auspices of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, GO-BC will take action to promote ocean science collaboration, offer a solid evidence base for the preservation and restoration of blue carbon habitats, and create robust marine ecosystems.

The Blue Carbon Initiative/Conservation International, the International Partnership for Blue Carbon, the Scottish Government, St Andrews University, and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO will all be partners in the launch of this initiative.

The UN Ocean Conference comes after the UN Environment Assembly’s fifth session, where the UK collaborated with other nations to win a breakthrough in talks to launch a new, legally enforceable treaty on plastic pollution.

Through a series of UK Plastics Treaty Dialogues, the UK is currently collaborating with OPLN to enlist the world-class expertise of UK stakeholders to help shape this ambitious new international treaty.

Prior to the 15th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15), which will take place in December of this year, the UN Ocean Conference will push for an ambitious new framework of biodiversity goals and targets.