Tag: Sustainable Development Goals

These future maritime leaders, studying at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport, based in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria, also used two powerful symbols in their video: an anchor, immediately recognizable in any language, and Semaphore, another universal way to communicate on the high seas, using flags. 

Spelling it out 

Arms moving in sharp patterns, the students spell, with flags, the same urgent text they form with their bodies as seen from above. 

The message is not a matter of theory for these future seafarers; it is central to their personal journeys starting at an institution committed to helping the world realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) especially on climate action (Goal 13) and life below water (Goal 14). 

Hailing from Egypt, Djibouti, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Mauritania, the students created their video message to the UN Ocean Conference, which will put the issue at the top of the international agenda when it convenes in Lisbon from 27 June to 1 July. 

‘Blue world’ 

“We live in a blue world,” explains Dr. Kareem Mahmoud Tonbol, an Associate Professor of Physical Oceanography and Climatology and Vice Dean for Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research, pointing out that oceans and seas cover more than 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface. 

“Oceans are the heart and lungs of our planet, supplying most of the oxygen we breathe,” says Dr. Tonbol, who also serves as Head of Meteorology and the Hydrographic Survey Programme and organized the initiative to create a video in response to a request from the UN’s Department of Global Communications. 

Concern for the future 

He explains that the hundreds of students who contributed to the video, were motivated to send their nautical SOS, out of concern for humanity’s future.  

“Oceans are the heart and lungs of our planet, supplying most of the oxygen we breathe,” he says. “They are also a vital element of the ecosystem and a key source of food and medicine.” 

According to Dr. Tonbol, more than three billion people worldwide rely on marine and coastal biodiversity to survive, while oceans absorb over 30 per cent of carbon dioxide created by humans, helping mitigate the effects of warming on the planet.  

“Oceans also sustain the world’s marine and coastal resources and industries,” he points out. “In every way, we are directly related to our seas.” 

Oceans are the heart and lungs of our planet – Kareem Mahmoud Tonbol

It took a week of preparations, a team of video experts, and the choreographing of scores of students in maritime uniforms, but the Academy felt the investment was worth sending a strong signal from their Abu-Qir campus to the Conference. 

“Our message is to mobilize and unify the world’s efforts to support the sustainable management of the world’s oceans by fostering a global movement of citizens to protect ocean resources and the marine environment,” says Dr. Tonbol. 

Their decision to send a video message to the United Nations is consistent with the Academy’s longstanding cooperation with the world organization. 

And the Academy has incorporated into its strategic plan a commitment “to fulfilling its social responsibility and aligning itself to the SDGs, significantly increasing the extent to which its research and teaching support the aim of achieving a healthy and sustainable planet.” 

For Dr. Tonbol, this is more than a question of plans on paper; it is a legacy to bequeath to future generations. “Our role is to shape future leaders by investing in young minds as we embark upon the intergenerational transition to help them join the sustainable development revolution and create a momentum to deliver the SDGs,” he says. 

“Sustainable development is very much about the business of ensuring that our children and future generations inherit an earth that is no worse off than the one we have inherited, so we dedicate our research to advancing innovative solutions for the interest of humanity.” 

 

“We came to Stockholm 50 years after the UN Conference on the Human Environment knowing that something must change. Knowing that, if we do not change, the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste, will only accelerate,” said Inger Andersen, Secretary-General of Stockholm+50, and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

The UNEP chief urged the participants to “take forward this energy, this commitment to action, to shape our world.”

Shaping tomorrow

General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid reminded that the policies we implement today “will shape the world we live in tomorrow”.

Governments and the private sector have an important role to play in rethinking strategies to target structural barriers that have hindered women’s participation in labour forces, he said.

“The workplace of the future must be rooted in equity and free of discrimination and harmful stereotypes about women’s skills, work ethic, leadership abilities or intellect.”

Success means instilling gender equity practices embodied in legal protections, robust enforcement mechanisms, and deep structural and cultural change, he added.

Mr. Shahid urged everyone to discuss constructively “how we can secure not only a more gender equal recovery – but a gender equal world.” 

Goal: Healthy planet

The two-day international meeting concluded with a statement from co-hosts Sweden and Kenya, which recommended placing human well-being at the centre of a healthy planet and prosperity for all; recognizing and implementing the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment; adopting systemwide changes in the way our current economic system works, and accelerate transformations of high impact sectors.

“We believe that we have – collectively – mobilized and used the potential of this meeting. We now have a blueprint of acceleration to take further,” said Sweden’s Minister for Climate and the Environment, Annika Strandhäll.

“Stockholm+50 has been a milestone on our path towards a healthy planet for all, leaving no one behind.”

Rebuild for future generations

Stockholm+50 featured four plenary sessions in which leaders made calls for bold environmental action to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).

Three Leadership Dialogues, hundreds of side events, associated events and webinars and a series of regional multi-stakeholder consultations in the run-up to the meeting, enabled thousands of people around the world to engage in discussions and put forward their views.

“The variety of voices and bold messages that have emerged from these two days demonstrate a genuine wish to live up to the potential of this meeting and build a future for our children and grandchildren on this, our only planet,” said Keriako Tobiko, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for the Environment.

“We didn’t just come here to commemorate, but to build forward and better, based on the steps taken since 1972.”

“It is vital we safeguard the health of its atmosphere, the richness and diversity of life on Earth, its ecosystems and its finite resources.  But we are failing to do so,” said the UN chief.  

“We are asking too much of our planet to maintain ways of life that are unsustainable,” he cautioned, noting that this not only hurts the Earth, but also its inhabitants.

Manage nature wisely

Since 1973, the day has been used to raise awareness and generate political momentum around growing environmental concerns, such as toxic chemical pollution, desertification and global warming.

It has since grown into a global action platform, helping to drive change in consumption habits, as well as in national and international environmental policy.

By providing food, clean water, medicines, climate regulation and protection from extreme weather events, Mr. Guterres reminded that a healthy environment is essential for people and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

“It is essential that we wisely manage nature and ensure equitable access to its services, especially for the most vulnerable people and communities,” Mr. Guterres underscored.

Ecosystems under fire

More than three billion people are affected by degraded ecosystems. Pollution causes some nine million premature deaths each year, and more than one million plant and animal species risk extinction – many within decades, according to the UN chief.

“Close to half of humanity is already in the climate danger zone – 15 times more likely to die from climate impacts such as extreme heat, floods and drought,” he said, adding that there is a 50:50 chance that global temperatures will breach the Paris Agreement limit of 1.5℃ in the next five years.  

And by 2050, more than 200 million people each year risk displacement through climate disruption.

‘Alarm bells’

When world leaders came together 50 years ago at the UN Conference on the Human Environment, they committed to protecting the planet.  

“But we are far from succeeding.  We can no longer ignore the alarm bells that ring louder every day,” warned the top UN official.

The recent Stockholm+50 environment meeting reiterated that all 17 SDGs rely on a healthy planet to avert the triple crises of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.

He urged Governments to prioritize climate action and environmental protection through policy decisions that promote sustainable progress.  

Speed up renewable energy

The Secretary-General outlined recommendations to activate renewable energy everywhere by making renewable techologies and raw materials available to all, cutting red tape, shifting subsidies and tripling investment.

“Businesses need to put sustainability at the heart of their decision-making for the sake of humanity and their own bottom line.  A healthy planet is the backbone of nearly every industry on Earth,” he said.

He advocated for the empowerment of women and girls as “forceful agents of change,” including in decision-making at all levels.  And upheld the usage of indigenous and traditional knowledge to help protect fragile ecosystems.

Tracking success

The UN chief flagged that history has shown what can be achieved when we put the planet first, pointing to a continent-sized hole in the ozone layer that triggered every country to commit to the Montreal Protocol, which phased out ozone-depleting chemicals.  

“This year and the next will present more opportunities for the global community to demonstrate the power of multilateralism to tackle our intertwined environmental crises, from negotiations on a new global biodiversity framework to reverse nature loss by 2030 to the establishment of a treaty to tackle plastics pollution,” he stated.

Mr. Guterres reiterated the UN commitment to lead cooperative global efforts, “because the only way forward is to work with nature, not against it”.  

‘Running against the clock’

The Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Inger Andersen, reminded that the international day was born at the 1972 UN Conference in the Swedish capital, out of the understanding that “we need to stand up to protect the air, land and water on which we all depend…[and] that the power of people matters, and matters greatly”.

“Today, as we look to a present and a future of heatwaves, droughts, floods, wildfires, pandemics, dirty air and plastic ridden oceans and yes, wars action is more important than ever, and we are running against the clock.”

Ms. Andersen put the responsibility squarely “on all of us”.

She highlighted that politicians must see beyond elections to “intergenerational wins”; financial institutions must finance the planet, and businesses should account for nature.

Consequences of war

Meanwhile, David Boyd, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, warned that conflicts are intensifying environmental devastation, and rights violations.

“Peace is a fundamental prerequisite to sustainable development and the full enjoyment of human rights, including the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” he said.

Conflicts consume “vast quantities” of energy; produce “huge emissions of climate-disrupting greenhouse gases”, increase toxic air, water and soil pollution, and destroy nature, he argued.

The UN-appointed independent expert highlighted the environmental fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and its rights implications, including the right to live in a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, saying it would take years to repair the damage.

“Many countries have announced plans to expand oil, gas and coal extraction in response to the war” in Ukraine, Mr. Boyd said, while noting that multi-billion-dollar rebuilding and restoration proposals post-conflict, would also add to environmental pressures facing the world.

The destruction of thousands of buildings and essential infrastructure will leave millions without safe drinking water – another essential right.

As the world grapples with climate disruption, collapsing biodiversity and pervasive pollution, the UN expert stressed: “It is imperative to end wars, ensure peace and begin the healing and restoration processes as soon as humanly possible.”

Sometime before the COVID-19 pandemic, Cassie Flynn was heading to work on a rush-hour packed New York City subway train.

As the Strategic Advisor on Climate Change for the UN Development Programme (UNDP), she often used the monotony of the commute to think of innovative ways to get ordinary people involved in the climate fight, and on this morning, she noticed everyone around her busy with their phones, not just staring at them or scrolling, but doing something.

“I was a bit cheeky, and I started looking at what people were doing and I kind of peeked over this woman’s shoulder and saw she was playing Angry Birds, and then I looked over and this other guy was playing Candy Crush. All of these people were playing games on their phones,” she recalled while speaking to UN News.

A lightbulb went off, and Ms. Flynn thought: “What if we could meet people there?”

“You know how in [some] games they have these 30-second ads that pop up? What if we could use that? Instead of it being an advertisement for another game or something else, what if this is where we could talk to people about climate change?”

And that’s exactly what she and her team at UNDP decided to do.

Influencing global policy by playing a mobile game

Ms. Flynn’s momentous subway ride gave birth to UNDP’s Mission 1.5 mobile game, which allows people to learn about the climate crisis and at the same time communicate to governments about solutions that could be put in place to tackle it – all while they’re exploring virtual universes.

“More people play videogames on their phones than they [listen to] music and [watch] videos combined, it’s just massive,” says the expert.

Thanks to an inter-agency effort and a partnership with a gaming company, UNDP’s game – which challenges users to make the right decisions to keep the world on the path to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees –went online at the beginning of 2020.

“Fast forward [to today], we have about 6 million people that have played the game so far in 58 countries, with a 50 per cent completion rate. So, when people start it, they really play it, which is something that we’re really excited about,” Ms. Flynn adds.

But it goes beyond educating the users on climate solutions in 17 languages; the game asks them to cast a vote about which strategies, in their opinion, would be more successful to tackle the crisis.

These answers have become the source for what is now known as the ‘People’s climate vote,’ the largest survey of public opinion on climate change ever conducted.

“We took data from about 50 countries, and we were able to use the samples to cover over half of the world’s population in terms of their thinking on how they should solve the climate crisis,” Ms. Flynn explains.

That information has now been shared and discussed by parliamentarians all over the world and during major international meetings, such as the recent G20 summit and the latest UN Climate Conference, COP26. The results were even included in the latest series of reports issued by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which are very influential for intergovernmental negotiations.

Reaching new populations: The Playing for the Planet Alliance

Mission 1.5’s success is only the tip of the iceberg if we think about the reach of today’s video gaming industry, which stretches beyond our smartphones onto the screens of at least 3 billion people in the world – or 1 in every 3 people in the planet.

“The video gaming industry is probably the most powerful medium in the world in terms of attention, reach and engagement,” says Sam Barratt, UN Environment’s Chief of Education, Youth & Advocacy.

Mr. Barratt is the Co-Founder of the first-of-its-kind group of private video game sector organizations that have made commitments to help protect people and the planet, with the support of the United Nations.

Launched during the pivotal 2019 UN Climate Action Summit, the Playing for the Planet Alliance has made headlines in recent years for including commitments from some of the major names in the gaming industry, such as Microsoft, Sony and Ubisoft, as well as dozens of other well-known videogame studios.

Mr. Barrat was inspired by watching his son spend time exploring, playing, and socializing on these platforms, and seeing how the games created incentives to keep the players engaged.

“[It was] an industry that hadn’t really thought about what difference it could make”, he explains to UN News.

Less carbon footprint, more action

The alliance aims to work with these companies on two fronts: First, reducing the carbon footprint of their industries; and second, harnessing the power of their platforms to include messages or steps they might take related to climate action.

“We’ve built a really strong community of practice on this agenda. We’ve doubled in size – for now, at least over 40 studios – with more coming on board. The way I see our role [as United Nations] is that we’re facilitating leadership, we’re here to help the industry… but in the end, it’s a voluntary initiative where the kind of leadership that they show is determined by them,” Mr. Barrat explains.

Playing for the Planet also hosts a yearly ‘Green Game Jam’, which is an opportunity for videogame studios to get extra creative and integrate green activations within their popular games or create new ones.

This means including environmentally themed features and messages, educating users and inviting them to donate or to participate in UN conservation and restoration campaigns.

It’s not all fun and games

Over the past two years there has already been an array of cool initiatives and games that have made a difference outside of the screens.

For instance, different activations in games during the Jams have contributed to the planting of over 266,000 trees, with this number likely to increase.

Another remarkable example is the popular video game Alba: A Wildlife Adventure by the English studio Ustwo, which is a member of the Alliance.

The game features a girl protagonist who tries to prevent the construction of a resort on a beautiful Mediterranean Island. It teaches the importance of conservation and restoration to PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC and iOS users, while devoting some of the proceeds from every download to support tree-planting as a strategy to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Alba has so far led to a remarkable 1million trees planted and 3 habitats restored, with this number set to grow.

During the last Green Game Jam in 2021, UN Environment invited participant studios to support campaigns such as Play4Forests, a petition to demand action from world leaders in protecting forests; and GlowingGlowing Gone, to accelerate ocean protection and climate action.

Studios with a combined reach of 1 billion players participated in the 2021 Jam, and they were able to engage 130 million players around the world with some 60,000 pledges signed for the UN campaigns, and $800,000 in donations to different charities working with environmental causes.

And of course, it was also fun. Just to give you a few examples:

PAC-MAN players were able to play a forest-themed ‘Adventure Mode’ with six stages, an album filled with collectibles and a skin [a download which changes the appearance of characters in the game] as the reward for the event completion.

Minecraft, a 3-D computer game where players can build anything, added an additional lesson plan on ‘Radical Recycling’ to player maps, and therefore was able to make a $100,000 donation to The Nature Conservancy.

Pokémon Go created a first-of-its-kind avatar item to give players a new way to voice their support for sustainability efforts.

Angry Birds fans were able to collect a special Mariner Hat Set for participating in a Sea Adventure, and the campaign reached over 280,000 people.

Meanwhile, for Anno 1800, a city-building real-time strategy video game, PC players usually grow settlements and create massive production chains in a world with infinite resources. This time, they learned how, in the real world, their decisions affect the environment and could end up destroying it.

Players start out on an untouched island with a small population and are required to create a sustainable city. If they don’t keep in mind the downsides of population growth and find measures to counter them, the island’s ecosystem and the city will ultimately collapse.

For example, building monocultures depletes island fertility, over-fishing destroys food supplies for future generations, and deforestation leads to deserted islands.

This last game initiative won the Jam’s UNEP’s choice award for 2021.

Decarbonizing the industry

Speaking about change in the real world, according to the latest report of the Playing for the Planet Alliance, 60 per cent of its members are now committed to becoming net zero or carbon negative by 2030 at the latest.

“So, we do know that for many gaming companies, most of the carbon is produced through games that play on devices. Mainly through mobile and all through other parts of that scope. But we still don’t have a full picture. We are working this year to get the whole industry to come up with a methodology so they can understand how they can recall that carbon impact,” Alliance co-founder Sam Barrat, explains.

He adds that while gaming seems to have a lesser carbon footprint when compared with other leisure activities, it all depends on how long users play and what media they use for it.

“When you’re playing on a CD ROM and playing that game a lot, the carbon consequence of its life cycle approach is less than streaming lots of small games,” Mr. Barrat says, highlighting that the Alliance is working together to figure out ways to measure their emissions better.  

Big companies are already starting to take the lead

Last year, Microsoft conducted a report that details the amount of energy in Watt-hours that mobile devices use while playing mobile video games in a 30-minute period of gameplay.

The previous study that was being used for calculation was from 2012, so this new dataset will allow companies to make more accurate calculations of gamers’ energy use through mobile gaming.

Meanwhile, Sony created a carbon footprint tool on the carbon impacts of the gaming sector and made substantial improvements in the energy efficiency of their Play Station 4 and 5 consoles. 

“We also recognize the impact we have on climate change as an industry – and we are taking steps to address it… We’ve achieved an estimated avoided energy use for PS4 and PS5 consoles of 57.4 TWh [Terawatt-hour] and 0.8 TWh respectively from energy efficiency improvements we’ve made to date, such as efficient chipsets, power supplies, and low power rest mode,” Ross Townsend, Sony PlayStation Corporate Communication Manager, tells UN News.

He adds that for this year’s Earth Day, Sony Interactive Entertainment invested in high-quality projects and was able to offset carbon emissions equivalent to 100 million hours of average console electricity during gameplay.

Videogames being the biggest entertainment industry, the impact is real: there is a room to lead rather than follow

Gameloft, a giant mobile game developer, has also made moves to reduce its carbon footprint.

“We have the ambitious project to become Net Zero Carbon with long-term work consisting of focusing on Scopes 1 [direct greenhouse emissions associated with fuel combustion] and 2 [Indirect emissions associated with electricity, steam, cooling etc.] and by reducing our energy and electricity footprint by 80 per cent and onboarding our providers in our decarbonization’s journey,” emphasizes Stephanie Cazaux-Moutou, Gameloft Communications Manager.

Since 2019, the company is also reducing its business travel and compensating the remaining emissions.

Other Alliance members are also working on a new protocol to reduce the use of plastics within the industry to be launched sometime in 2022.

“Three quarters of the consumers around the world expect brands to be actively involved in solving social and environmental changes. Videogames being the biggest entertainment industry, the impact is real: there is a room to lead rather than follow,” adds Ms. Cazaux-Moutou.

Into the Future

The 2022 Green Game Jam has included the participation of over 50 studios that have been launching their activations since April, and has a focus on ‘Food, Forests and Our Future’.

Gameloft, for example, integrated into Asphalt 9, a key racing game, the opportunity for players to drive stunning electric cars, including the luxurious Lotus Evija, and race for the planet.

“Gaming is no longer solely for younger generations. Considering the adverse impact climate change will have on communities across the globe, it is important to educate, inspire and engage as many people as possible,” highlights Mr. Townsend from Sony, which is also participating in the latest Jam with their game “Dreams”, inviting users to create Sustainable Farming community games, and planting up to 130,000 real world trees.

Competing videogame companies working and learning together, and collaborating with each other, might have been hard to imagine a few years ago, but today, it is a reality.

Because the truth is, if we don’t come together to end the climate crisis, no one is going to be a winner.

“There’s a real opportunity here to use this for good and to help ignite conversations around some of the world’s challenges that people may want to be engaged with and talk about, but haven’t had the opportunity… I think through video games and through the gaming industry, we can reach entirely new populations and help to engage people in new ways that we haven’t been able to before,” highlights UNDP’s Cassie Flynn.

In 2022, Mission 1.5 will launch a new series of questions to include in the game, while the Alliance will be holding several events, including a virtual climate march and a Green Game Jam student edition.

“I think this medium has got unprecedented agency and influence in the world, and it’s very young and to some extent maybe misunderstood… we’ve got no choice but to work with this industry because their kind of ability to influence behaviour is potentially exponential,” concludes Mr. Barret.

With delegates from Member States, non-governmental organizations, and universities attending, as well as entrepreneurs looking for ways to sustainably develop the “Blue Economy”, there are hopes that this event, taking place in the Portuguese city of Lisbon between 27 June and 1 July, will mark a new era for the Ocean.

1. It’s time to focus on solutions

The first Conference, in 2017, was seen as a game changer in alerting the world to the Ocean’s problems. According to Peter Thomson, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, Lisbon “is going to be about providing solutions to those problems”.

The event is designed to provide a space for the international community to push for the adoption of innovative, science-based solutions for the sustainable management of the oceans, including combating water acidification, pollution, illegal fishing and loss of habitats and biodiversity.

This year’s conference will also determine the level of ambition for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030). The Decade will be a major theme in the conference, and will be the subject of several important events, laying out the vision of a healthier, more sustainable Ocean.

The UN has set 10 ocean-related targets to be achieved over this decade, as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Organisation’s blueprint for a fairer future for people and the planet. They include action to prevent and reducing pollution and acidification, protecting ecosystems, regulating fisheries, and increasing scientific knowledge. At the conference, interactive dialogues will focus on how to address many of these issues.

The role of youth will be at the fore in Lisbon, with young entrepreneurs, working on innovative, science-based solutions to critical problems, an important part of the dialogue.

From 24 through 26 June, they will participate in the Youth and Innovation Forum, a platform aimed at helping young entrepreneurs and innovators to scale up their initiatives, projects and ideas, by providing professional training, and matchmaking with mentors, investors, the private sector, and government officials.

The forum will also include an “Innovathon,” where teams of five participants will work together to create and propose new ocean solutions.

2. The stakes are high

The Ocean provides us all with oxygen, food, and livelihoods. It nurtures unimaginable biodiversity, and directly supports human well-being, through food and energy resources.

Besides being a life source, the ocean stabilizes the climate and stores carbon, acting as a giant sink for greenhouse gases.

According to UN data, around 680 million people live in low-lying coastal zones, rising to around one billion by 2050.

Plus, latest analysis estimates that 40 million people will be employed by ocean-based industries by the end of this decade.

3. Spotlight on Kenya and Portugal

Although the Conference is taking place in Portugal, it is being co-hosted by Kenya, where 65 per cent of the coastal population lives in rural areas, engaging primarily in fisheries, agriculture, and mining for their livelihoods. 

For Bernadette Loloju, a resident of Samburu County, Kenya, the ocean is important for her country’s people because it allows them to get many of the goods they need. “The ocean contains many living organisms including fish. It also gives us food. When we go to Mombasa city, we enjoy the beach and swim, adding to our happiness”.

Nzambi Matee, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Young Champion of the Earth winner, shares the same vision. Nzambi lives in Nairobi, Kenya, and is the founder of Gjenge Makers, which produces sustainable low-cost construction materials made of recycled plastic waste.

Ms. Matee takes plastic waste from the ocean, fished by fishermen, and converts it into paving bricks – “my work of recycling plastic waste from the ocean has enabled me to employ over 113 youth and women, whom together have produced 300,000 bricks. I get my livelihood from the ocean, and therefore the ocean is life to me”, she said.

The passion for the ocean is shared with Portugal, the largest coastal European Union Member State with some four million kilometers of continuous coastline, and as such, a country that plays a central role in the Atlantic basin.

“Our expectations for the UN Oceans Conference are that it will be a conference about action and not just about commitment”, says Catarina Grilo, Director of Conservation and Policy at Associação Natureza Portugal (ANP), a non-governmental organization working in line with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). ANP runs several projects in the areas of marine protection, sustainable fisheries, and ocean conservancy.

“The previous conference in New York was a really good moment to raise awareness about the role of the oceans for humanity’s well-being. At the time we had a lot of voluntary commitments from Member States and non-state organizations, but now it’s time to move from words to actions”.

4. The ocean and the global climate are intrinsically linked

The ocean and global climate heavily influence one another in many ways. As the climate crisis continues to pose an existential threat, there are some key metrics scientists are watching closely.

According to the latest climate change report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) global mean sea levels increased at an average of 4.5 mm per year between 2013 and 2021, due to ice sheets melting at an increasing rate.

The ocean absorbs around 23 per cent of CO2 generated by human activity, and when it does, chemical reactions take place, acidifying the seawater. That puts marine environments at risk and, the more acidic the water becomes, the less CO2 it is able to absorb.

Samuel Collins, a project manager at the Oceano Azul Foundation, in Lisbon, believes that the conference will serve as a bridge to COP27, due to take place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt this November.

“The ocean is fundamentally integral to climate. It houses 94 per cent of the living space on the planet. I could reel off statistics that shock us all.”, says the 27-year-old Scot.

“The reason why the products that we buy in the shop are so cheap is because shipping transports 90 per cent of the goods in our homes, so there are many reasons why we are connected to the ocean, whether you’re a landlocked country or not. There’s no living organism on earth that is unaffected by the Ocean”.

5. What can you do to help?

We asked some experts – including Catarina Grilo and biologist Nuno Barros at ANP, as well as Sam Collins at Oceano Azul Foundation – what citizens can do to promote a sustainable blue economy, while waiting for decision-makers and world leaders to move into action. Here are some ideas that you can incorporate to your daily lives:

1. If you eat fish, diversify your diet in terms of seafood consumption, do not always eat the same species. Also avoid consuming top predators and make sure what you eat is coming from responsible sources.

2. Prevent plastic pollution: with 80 per cent of marine pollution being originated on land, do your part to stop pollution reaching the sea. You can help by using reusable products, avoid consuming disposable products, and also making sure that you are placing your waste in the appropriate bins.

3. Pick up trash from the beach, and do not litter. But also think that any step you can take to reduce your environmental footprint will help the ocean in an indirect way.

4. Continue to advocate for solutions, whether that’s on the streets, writing letters to decision-makers, signing petitions, or supporting campaigns that aim to influence decision makers, at the national level or at a global level.

UN News will be in Lisbon to cover the Ocean Conference, so you can expect news stories, interviews, and features with experts, youth, and UN voices.

Look out for the latest updates on our page, and also on Twitter.

Delegates from some 184 countries gathered in Bali for the 2022 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction where they reviewed efforts to protect communities against a rising number of climate hazards and other catastrophes globally.

The summit concluded with an outcome document entitled the Bali Agenda for Resilience, which aims to prevent the world from facing 1.5 disasters a day by 2030, as cited last month in the Global Assessment Report.

“Early warning systems should be inclusive of communities most at risk with adequate institutional, financial and human capacity to act on early warnings,” said the co-chairs’ summary.

State of affairs

During the meeting, only 95 countries had reported having multi-hazard early warning systems that give governments, agencies and the general public notice of an impending disaster. Coverage in Africa, Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing Countries was particularly low.

Early warning systems are a critical defence against disasters such as floods, droughts and volcanic eruptions.

In March, Secretary-General António Guterres had called for the warning systems to cover every person on the planet within five years.

Early warnings

A core recommendation of the Bali Agenda is to “apply a ‘Think Resilience’ approach to all investments and decision making, integrating disaster risk reduction with the whole of government and whole of society,” the co-chairs spelled out in their summary.

The outcome document also highlighted the need to reassess how risk is governed and policy is designed, as well as institutional arrangements that need to be put in place at global, regional, and national levels.

COVID influence

The meeting was the first international UN disaster forum to be convened since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Against that backdrop, the co-chairs observed that current approaches to recovery and reconstruction are “not sufficiently effective in protecting development gains nor in building back better, greener and more equitably.”

“Transformative lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic must be applied before the window of opportunity closes.”

Sendai input

In parallel, the Midterm Review – which measures progress towards global targets of the UN’s Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction – got underway.

Sharing advancements since the last Global Platform in 2019, delegates revealed a 33 per cent increase in the number of countries developing disaster risk reduction strategies and reporting through the Sendai Framework Monitor.

However, the Bali Agenda showed that “less than half of the countries reporting against Sendai Framework targets indicate having fit-for purpose, accessible and actionable disaster risk information.”

And while there has been some progress – such as developing new financing mechanisms and better linkages with climate action – “the data still points to insufficient investment and progress in disaster risk reduction in most countries, especially in investing in prevention.”

Moving ahead

The Bali Agenda will be carried through to the next UN climate conference, known as COP 27, as well as the next meeting of the G20 leading industrialized nations and Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework.

This year the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, commemorated annually on 13 October, will be dedicated to early warning systems.

“Biodiversity is essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, ending the existential threat of climate change, halting land degradation, building food security and supporting advances in human health”, said António Guterres in a statement.

The UN chief highlighted that biodiversity offers solutions for green and inclusive growth and, this year, governments will meet to agree on a global biodiversity framework with clear and measurable targets to put the planet on the path of recovery by 2030.

“The framework must tackle the drivers of biodiversity loss and enable the ambitious and transformative change needed for living in harmony with nature by effectively protecting more of the world’s land, freshwater and oceans, encouraging sustainable consumption and production, employing nature-based solutions to address climate change and ending harmful subsidies that damage the environment”, he highlighted.

Living in harmony with nature

Guterres added that the global agreement should also mobilize action and financial resources to drive concrete nature-positive investments, ensuring that we all benefit from the dividends of biological diversity.

“As we accomplish these goals and implement the 2050 Vision for “living in harmony with nature”, we must act with respect for equity and human rights, particularly regarding the many indigenous populations whose territories harbour so much biological diversity”, he emphasised.

The UN chief said that to save our planet’s indispensable and fragile natural wealth, everyone needs to be engaged, including youth and vulnerable populations who rely the most on nature for their livelihoods.
“Today, I call on all to act to build a shared future for all life”, he concluded.

Building a shared future for all life is precisely this year’s focus for the International Day, in line with the United Nations Decade on Restoration.

Why is biodiversity important?

Biological diversity resources are the pillars upon which we build civilizations.

Fish provide 20 per cent of animal protein to about 3 billion people; plants provide over 80 per cent of the human diet; and as many as 80 per cent of people living in rural areas in developing countries rely on traditional plant‐based medicines for primary healthcare.

Yet, about 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction.

Loss of biodiversity threatens all, including our health. It has been proven that biodiversity loss could expand zoonoses – diseases transmitted from animals to humans- while, on the other hand, if we keep biodiversity intact, it offers excellent tools to fight against pandemics like those caused by coronaviruses.

If current negative trends in biodiversity and ecosystems are not addressed soon, they will undermine progress toward 80% of the assessed targets of 8 Sustainable Development Goals.