Ocean Action Hub

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United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) 5.2

The Fifth Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly was an opportunity for member states and stakeholders to share sustainability practices and build ecological and domestic recovery plans

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after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2),  met under the theme “Strengthening Actions for Nature to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals”.





To read the report: https://enb.iisd.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/enb16166e.pdf

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Preparatory Meeting Stresses 2020 as a New Chapter of Ocean Action

13 Feb 2020 - IISD SDG Knowledge Hub - Participants discussed themes for the 2020 UN Ocean Conference’s eight interactive dialogues and began discussions on the Conference’s political declaration,

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expected to focus on science-based and innovative areas of action to support implementation of SDG 14 as well as to adopt a list of voluntary commitments in support of achieving SDG 14.

Participants at the 2020 UN Ocean Conference Preparatory Meeting highlighted the importance of a healthy ocean in implementing and achieving the SDGs and stressed that 2020 must be a year of concrete action for the ocean. The 2020 Ocean Conference is one of the first milestones of the UN Secretary-General’s Decade of Action for the SDGs and is expected to provide inputs into the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

The 74th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) convened the two-day preparatory meeting at UN Headquarters in New York, the US, from 4-5 February. The Permanent Representative of Palau, Ngedikes Olai Uludong, and the Permanent Representative of Denmark, Martin Bille Hermann, are the co-facilitators of the preparatory process. The co-facilitators emphasized that the UN Ocean Conference is an opportunity to take the momentum from the 2017 UN Ocean Conference further and “drive a new chapter of ocean action.” They stressed that 2020 represents a “huge opportunity for the global community to come together and raise the level of ambition.”

CONTINUE READING ONLINE HERE: http://sdg.iisd.org/news/preparatory-meeting-stresses-2020-as-a-new-chapter-of-ocean-action/

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Without Climate Action, UNESCO Projects Disappearance of Coral Reefs by 2100
24 Jul 2018 - UNFCCC emphasizes coral reefs’ fragility and the need to reduce GHG emissions to mee Paris Agreement goals.
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24 Jul 2018 - A scientific assessment by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Centre found that 21 of 29 World Heritage reefs have been subjected to severe or repeated heat stress. Such conditions, the assessment notes, can cause coral bleaching and annual economic losses upwards of US$500 billion by 2100.

Published under the title, ‘Impacts of Climate Change on World Heritage Coral Reefs: A First Global Scientific Assessment,’ the analysis finds that, under a business-as-usual scenario, all 29 World Heritage reefs, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, “would cease to exist as functioning coral reef ecosystems” by the end of the century.

Coral reefs are set to disappear unless GHG emissions are reduced in line with goals set by the Paris Agreement.

A UNFCCC article emphasizes reefs’ fragility, noting that a global average surface temperature spike of 1-2°C above preindustrial levels is enough to cause bleaching. Global surface temperatures have not only risen by 1°C, the article notes, but the effect is further amplified by ocean acidification due to oceans’ absorption of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and weather events such as El Niño, where warmer waters trigger shifts in weather patterns.

CONTINUE READING HERE: http://sdg.iisd.org/news/without-climate-action-unesco-projects-disappearance-of-coral-reefs-by-2100/

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