ABOUT THE OCEAN CONFERENCE

“The Ocean Conference”, “Our Oceans, Our Future: Partnering for the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14” took place in New York from 5 to 9 June 2017. The Conference was mandated by the Member States of the United Nations because they recognized that SDG 14 — “the Oceans Goal” — needs support to ensure its implementation. The final report of the Ocean Conference is available online here (advance, unedited version).

The Conference was intended to:

• Identify ways and means to strengthen cooperation for the implementation of SDG 14 and related targets , taking into account their interlinkages with other goals and targets
• Build on existing successful partnerships, and launching innovative new ones to advance implementation
• Involve all relevant stakeholders to assess progress and identify implementation gaps
• Facilitate the sharing of experiences gained through regional and national strategies/institutions
• Contribute to the follow-up and review process of SDG 14 by reporting its outcomes to the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

Following to the General Assembly resolution “Modalities for the United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14”, A/70/L.64, the Conference included:

• Eight plenary meetings
• Seven Partnership Dialogues, intended to be interactive and multistakeholder in nature:
  1. Addressing marine pollution – Co-Chairs: Norway and Indonesia
  2. Managing, protecting, conserving and restoring marine and coastal ecosystems – Co-Chairs: Italy and Palau 
  3. Minimizing and addressing ocean acidification – Co-Chairs: Monaco and Mozambique 
  4. Making fisheries sustainable – Co-Chairs: Canada and Senegal
  5. Increasing economic benefits to SIDS and lDCs and providing access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets – Co-Chairs: Estonia and Grenada
  6. Increasing scientific knowledge, and developing research capacity and transfer of marine technology – Co-Chairs: Iceland and Peru 
  7. Enhancing the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources by implementing international law as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the law of the Sea – Co-Chairs: Australia and Kenya
• A special event commemorating World Oceans Day on 8 June 2017.

The outcome of the Conference was expected to be a political declaration and a report summarizing the Partnership Dialogues, focusing on concrete, action-oriented recommendations, as well as more than 1300 Voluntary Commitments for implementing SDG 14.

The Conference was co-hosted by the Governments of Sweden and Fiji. The designated Secretary-General of the Conference was Mr. Wu Hongbo, UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) Under-Secretary General. H.E. Mr Peter Thomson is the President of the 71^st Session of the General Assembly.