NOPC Participates in UN’s 2nd Ocean Conference

July 1, 2022 Categories: NOPC in the News, News by Editor 0 Comments

NOPC recently participated in the 2022 UN Ocean Conference, including through formal remarks highlighting the importance of unleashing the Blue Economy to improve livelihoods and societal well-being (see here beginning at 2:23:35).

Themes addressed by conference attendees included the importance of public-private partnerships, private sector action, innovative financing and funding for developing nations, good data, technology and innovation, science-based decisions, 30% ocean protection by 2030, and sustainable, integrated plans in achieving ocean conservation and sustainable use objectives, and the roles of marine renewable energy development, shipping decarbonization initiatives, blue carbon, aquaculture, and land-based activities in meeting climate goals and population needs.

Other themes included the significance of progressing on ocean-related action items in 2022, including through the following:

Attention was also drawn to a recent agreement by World Trade Organization members on prohibiting subsidies for (1) illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, (2) fishing of an overfished stock, and (3) fishing on the high seas that is outside the jurisdiction of a regional fishery management organization.

Led by Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, the U.S. government delegation to the five-day event included the following, among others:

  • Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change Sue Biniaz;
  • Asst. Sec. of State for Oceans and International Environmental & Scientific Affairs Monica Medina;
  • Deputy Asst. Secretary of State for Oceans and Fisheries and Polar Affairs Maxine Burkett;
  • White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory;
  • White House Office of Science & Technology Policy Deputy Director for Climate & Environment Jane Lubchenco;
  • White House Office of Science & Technology Policy Asst. Director for Natural Resource Economics & Accounting Eli Fenichel;
  • NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad; and
  • NOAA National Ocean Service Asst. Admin. Nicole LeBoeuf

In conjunction with the conference, the Biden administration made several ocean-related announcements that are listed further below under “Outcomes and Announcements.”

In calling for the valuation of conservation activities as much as extractive ones, Deputy Asst. Secretary of State for Oceans and Fisheries and Polar Affairs Maxine Burkett emphasized the need to find ways to value the benefits of conservation in order to fund permanent protection in a manner that ensures economic activity is nature positive, minimizes impacts, and increases ocean health, specifically endorsing (1) the notion of including the value of healthy natural spaces in economic decisions and accounting for drivers like nature tourism and ecosystem services; (2) ecosystem-wide conservation development plans; and (3) marine spatial plans that build in financing for conservation from the outset.

During remarks at a side event on scaling up ambition in science partnership to address challenges at the ocean basin scale, White House Office of Science & Technology Policy Deputy Director for Climate & Environment Jane Lubchenco noted U.S. efforts to explore and characterize the Exclusive Economic Zone, saying that it will help inform decision-making and increase understanding of climate change impacts.  She specifically said that with 30×30, the effort presents a new opportunity to understand the ocean and interconnections among ocean systems in a way that will inform where to site marine protected areas (MPAs) and MPA networks.

In remarks the following morning calling for more strategic, integrated, accessible, useful, relevant, and inclusive science, Lubchenco among other things noted the U.S. accession to the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy and efforts underway to develop a Sustainable Ocean Plan and an Ocean-Climate Action Plan focused on areas including green shipping, blue carbon, wind energy, and 30×30.  On 30×30, she also noted that MPAs currently comprise 26% of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, with almost all of them in fully to highly protected status, and she separately referenced efforts to develop a U.S. nature assessment and develop a system to value ocean-related natural capital.

As part of a panel discussion on sustainable ocean development “beyond GDP,” NOAA National Ocean Service Asst. Administrator Nicole LeBoeuf talked about U.S. actions to measure ocean value, including through a recent update to the Marine Economy Satellite Account and the new effort underway on natural capital accounting.  LeBoeuf said that the natural capital accounting initiative will “help tell a fuller story” by factoring in the intersection of pollutants and stressors that could impact fish stocks in order to inform decisions and protection efforts.

During remarks at the Sustainable Blue Economy Investment Forum, NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad focused his comments on the “new Blue Economy,” which he said is non-extractive and based on data, the economy, and knowledge.  He also called the concept of marine protected areas “complex and interesting,” citing the 30×30 effort and the challenge of determining which 30% to conserve and why (noting the need for access to enable activities like blue carbon storage).

Spinrad also noted competing interests between 30×30 and the Biden Administration’s initiative to install 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, and said that there is a need to engage underprivileged communities to ensure effective marine protection, production, and prosperity.

On the subject of maritime transportation during a session on ocean acidification, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry also called on the International Maritime Organization to adopt a revised strategy of zero emissions by 2050, with interim goals along the way.

Outcomes and Announcements

The conference concluded with adoption of a non-binding declaration, and coincided with a series of actions and announcements throughout the week that included the following:

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