Featured: Countries sign onto a joint declaration on ocean and climate action Arrow Featured: 10 ocean events to watch out for at COP28 Arrow Featured: Read the new report: The Ocean as a Solution to Climate Change Arrow Featured: Read the Ocean Panel Leaders joint communiqué issued at the 2023 UN General Assembly Arrow Featured: Ocean Panel members issue joint statement on sustainable tourism at the Our Ocean Conference Arrow Featured: New members strengthen Ocean Action 2030’s mission for a sustainable ocean economy, read more Arrow Featured: Read up on Ocean Panel Activities at the Our Ocean Conference, Panama Arrow Featured: Read the 2022 Sustainable Tourism Report and Accompanying Expert Perspectives Arrow

Climate

The ocean is a solution to climate change.

For decades, the ocean has buffered the planet from the negative effects of excess greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and this has taken a toll on the ocean’s health.

It was once thought the ocean was too big to fail—but, in reality, it is too big to ignore. We now know that not only do human actions impact the ocean, but that they can also play a much bigger role in combatting climate change.

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Ocean health and the livelihoods and economies that depend on it require the world to urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

The only way we can achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement is through greater climate action by all countries. Ocean-based climate solutions can deliver up to 21% of the annual greenhouse gas emission cuts needed in 2050 to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C.

These solutions include:

  • natural carbon sequestration and storage in coastal and marine ecosystems
  • renewable energy from the ocean
  • decarbonisation of marine transport
  • shifting to sustainable, low-carbon protein from the ocean
  • storage of carbon in the seabed

In 2019, Ocean Panel launched a ‘Call to Ocean-Based Climate Action’ at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York to outline a pathway towards greater action on ocean-based climate solutions.

While significant global progress has been made, the latest IPCC reports emphasise the gap that remains between ambition and action.

The Ocean Panel remains committed to ocean-based climate action and urges all actors to join them in advancing ambitious ocean-based solutions to support global efforts to urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Featured Resources

Summary
Full Report
Summary
Call to Action
Statement
Transformations in Action
Examples of ocean action from Ocean Panel countries.
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Recent News

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12/14/2023

Top Ocean Moments at COP28

COP28 negotiations in Dubai ended early on the morning of 13 December, as countries agreed on a new deal to tackle climate change. For the first time, fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas) are mentioned…
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12/05/2023

New Green Shipping Challenge Announcements made at COP28

Last year at COP27, two members of the Ocean Panel, Norway and the USA launched a new initiative to cut greenhouse gas emissions from shipping and challenged other countries, ports and companies to join them.  One…
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12/04/2023

Ocean Panel Calls for Nations to Adopt 100% Sustainable Ocean Management Target

DUBAI (December 2, 2023) — On December 2, the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel) launched the Joint Declaration on Ocean and Climate Action, calling for countries around the world to sustainably…
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12/02/2023

Joint declaration on ocean and climate action

The health of the ocean, and the livelihoods and economies that depend on it, requires the world to urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Achieving this goal…
Read More
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11/30/2023

10 ocean events to watch out for at COP28

This year’s COP offers a unique and historic opportunity to correct the course on climate change through the first-ever “Global Stocktake”, shining a spotlight on whether the world is doing enough to curb emissions, build…
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10/02/2023

Seychelles Op-Ed: The Ocean Offers Rich Solutions for Climate Change

As one of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS), we face a unique set of vulnerabilities that impede our ability to achieve sustainable development. Structural factors, including our size, remoteness, limited resource base, market size,…
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09/20/2023

Joint Ocean Panel Leaders Communiqué 2023

We, the members of the Ocean Panel, acknowledge that a healthy ocean is the foundation for a healthy planet, and we must take urgent and interlinked actions to address the triple planetary crisis of climate…
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06/28/2023

Ocean Panel Releases The Blue Carbon Handbook

The Ocean Panel released its latest report, 'The Blue Carbon Handbook', on the 28 June. With the urgency to accelerate climate action to halt the impacts of climate change, ‘blue carbon’ ecosystems offer a natural…
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06/08/2023

Chile’s Sustainable Ocean Plan

Chile’s Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren, and the Ministers who conform the Council for National Ocean Policy, recently signed a decree to enact Chile’s National Ocean Program. This will serve as Chile’s Sustainable Ocean Plan,…
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04/26/2023

Mexico hosts Sustainable Ocean Plan event

Mexico City, Mexico – 27 April, 2023  The Mexican Government is holding an event in collaboration with the Government of Norway that aims to generate an inclusive dialogue on the sustainable ocean economy. Representatives from…
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Publications

Foreword

This Blue Paper commissioned by The High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (the...

Highlights

The ocean holds great, though still largely unrecognised and unrealised, potential to improve human health,...

How can a healthy ocean improve human health and enhance wellbeing on a rapidly changing planet?

Prior Ocean Panel Blue Papers have explored such topics as environmental threats to the ocean,...

Introduction

Human health and the health of the ocean are inextricably linked. The ocean is a...

1. Ocean opportunities for medicine and biotechnology

Benefits of marine biodiversity for human health The ocean is home to an incredible diversity...

2. Ocean opportunities for building and sustaining food security

The ocean, food security and human health The ocean is essential to global food security...
Webinar
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11/03/2023

Towards a Sustainable Ocean Economy 5

Mexico City, Mexico – 27 April, 2023  The Mexican Government is holding an event in collaboration with the Government of Norway that aims to generate an inclusive dialogue on the sustainable ocean economy. Representatives from…
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Webinar
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10/04/2023

Towards a Sustainable Ocean Economy 4

Mexico City, Mexico – 27 April, 2023  The Mexican Government is holding an event in collaboration with the Government of Norway that aims to generate an inclusive dialogue on the sustainable ocean economy. Representatives from…
Read More
Webinar
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10/04/2023

Towards a Sustainable Ocean Economy 3

Mexico City, Mexico – 27 April, 2023  The Mexican Government is holding an event in collaboration with the Government of Norway that aims to generate an inclusive dialogue on the sustainable ocean economy. Representatives from…
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Conference
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10/02/2023

Towards a Sustainable Ocean Economy 2

Mexico City, Mexico – 27 April, 2023  The Mexican Government is holding an event in collaboration with the Government of Norway that aims to generate an inclusive dialogue on the sustainable ocean economy. Representatives from…
Read More
Webinar
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09/27/2023

Towards a Sustainable Ocean Economy

Mexico City, Mexico – 27 April, 2023  The Mexican Government is holding an event in collaboration with the Government of Norway that aims to generate an inclusive dialogue on the sustainable ocean economy. Representatives from…
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Coastal Ecosystems

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Renewable Energy

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Marine Transport

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Sustainable and Low-Carbon Food

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Ocean-Based Carbon Capture and Storage

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Observation and Research

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