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

Blue Carbon Handbook

With the urgent need for accelerated climate action to halt the worst impacts of climate change, the world’s coastlines offer a natural solution in ‘blue carbon’ ecosystems that can have an immediate impact. Blue carbon ecosystems such as mangrove forests, seagrass beds and tidal marshes are vital natural assets. Their importance in helping to mitigate […]

Opportunities for Transforming Coastal and Marine Tourism: Towards Sustainability, Regeneration and Resilience

In December 2020, the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel) released its ‘Transformations for a Sustainable Ocean Economy: A Vision for Protection, Production and Prosperity’. One of the pillars of action within this ambitious roadmap for a sustainable ocean economy was for sustainable ocean-based tourism, establishing the goal that by 2030 […]

100% Sustainable Ocean Management: An Introduction to Sustainable Ocean Plans

In 2020, the members of the Ocean Panel announced their shared ambition to sustainably manage 100% of ocean areas under their national jurisdiction by 2025, guided by Sustainable Ocean Plans. In addition, they urged all coastal and ocean states to join them in this commitment, so that by 2030 all ocean areas under national jurisdiction […]

Ocean Solutions that Benefit People, Nature and the Economy

‘Ocean Solutions that Benefit People, Nature and the Economy’ is a report commissioned by the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy and written by SYSTEMIQ and the Ocean Panel Expert Group co-chairs in December 2020. It sets out to create a new narrative, paired with an ambitious and feasible action agenda, by drawing […]

Ocean Finance: Financing the Transition to a Sustainable Ocean Economy

The paper demonstrates the role insurance can play in accelerating the transition and how ocean-related subsidies contribute to or detract from the sustainable ocean economy. It recommends approaches to be phased out and new solutions that incentivise sustainable management. ‘Ocean Finance: Financing the Transition to a Sustainable Ocean Economy’ was launched through a webinar, ‘Financing […]

A Sustainable and Equitable Blue Recovery to the COVID-19 Crisis

A healthy ocean is the foundation for vibrant economies. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, ocean-based industries were estimated to contribute 2.5 percent of world gross value added and over 31 million direct full-time jobs. However, as governments seek to reset and rebuild following the pandemic, the ocean economy has been overlooked in stimulus measures, especially when one considers the pandemic’s devastating impacts on workers and […]

The Human Relationship with Our Ocean Planet

Focusing on the institutions that affect access and rights, this paper addresses concerns about the appropriation of marine resources and displacement of indigenous visions for ocean governance by identifying ways these culturally distinct institutions are compatible and charting a path toward inclusive ocean governance. ‘The Human Relationship with Our Ocean Planet’ launched through a webinar on 8 […]

Organised Crime in the Fisheries Sector

Criminal activity in the fisheries sector, which has concerned the international community for years, has become increasingly organised. Frequently transnational, such crime can manifest in a broad range of offences, the most common being economic crimes such as money laundering, fraud, forgery, tax and customs evasion, corruption and human trafficking. Anecdotal, scientific and case-based evidence […]

National Accounting for the Ocean and Ocean Economy

This paper offers four principles for national ocean accounting and discusses methods for measuring and valuing ocean assets and their rise and decline. The paper paves the way to implement already-agreed statistical standards and new innovations in national accounting for the ocean, enabling the national accounts to become a more useful tool for creating a […]

A Sustainable Ocean Economy for 2050: Approximating Its Benefits and Costs

The ocean faces urgent environmental challenges and taking action to protect ocean-based ecosystems and ensure the environmental sustainability of ocean-based activities will help deliver a host of benefits to society. Building on the Special Report ‘The Ocean as a Solution to Climate Change: Five Opportunities for Action’, this new Ocean Panel–commissioned research finds that investing $1 in key […]

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