Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
decided onan evaluation ofUN-Oceans and requested UN-Oceans to submit to the Gener-
al Assembly's attention terms of reference for its work, with a view to reviewing the man-
date of UN-Oceans and enhancing transparency in its reporting to member states.
Effortsforeffectiveandsynergisticinter-agencycoordinationbyUNorganizationsin-
volvedinoceanaffairsinthecontextofUN-Oceansarecomplementedbyinitiativesaimed
at enhancing the active participation of countries in the oceans agenda. One of such signi-
ficant initiatives is the Global Partnership for Oceans, which brings together more than one
hundred countries, non-governmental organizations, civil society groups, and the private
sector, which are committed to the cause of ensuring healthy oceans for the benefit of
peoples (see
http://www.globalpartnershipforoceans.org)
.
The Sustainable Ocean Initiative
(see
http://www.cbd.int/marine/doc/soi-brochure-2012-en.pdf)
under the CBD, which pro-
motes partnerships in support of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets under the United Nations
Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 (see
www.cbd.int/sp/targets/
), is an example of
another of such initiatives.
The Global Ocean Forum (see
www.globaloceans.org/content/about-gof
), established
in 2001 and involving ocean leaders from over 110 countries, continues to provide a much
needed forum for multistakeholder policy analyses and dialogues to advance the global
ocean agenda.
The current process on a post-2015 development agenda underpinned by a set of Sus-
tainable Development Goals (SDGs) may culminate in the adoption by governments of a
stand-alone SDG on attaining the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources,
oceans, and seas. This goal, albeit less ambitious than the one put forward at the beginning
of the work of the UN General Assembly Open Working Group on the SDGs, in the second
quarter of 2013, which used to refer to healthy, productive, and resilient oceans and seas
(and prosperous and resilient peoples and communities), may act as a leverage for strength-
ening the political and policy enabling framework for action in support of oceans.
The momentum generated by the Rio+20 Conference and other related developments,
the urgency of solving the problems of the oceans for the benefit of humankind as a whole
in the broader context of UNCLOS, and the fact that we already have at our disposal some
