2020 Ocean Super Year – What Does It Mean for Business

2020 – “SUPER YEAR FOR THE OCEAN”: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE GLOBAL OCEAN BUSINESS COMMUNITY?

A Series of Major Ocean Events and Developments will Take Place This Year, with Important Implications and Opportunities for Ocean Industries

24 February 2020

Ocean advocates are calling 2020 a “Super Year” for the ocean due to the number of major activities on key marine issues and arenas. The World Ocean Council (WOC) is working to ensure that the global ocean business and investment community is informed of and engaged in these developments.

4th (Final) Negotiating Session on the Law of the Sea’s “Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction” (BBNJ) Treaty (23 March–3 April, New York)
The legally binding BBNJ treaty will create new international high seas regulation on Environmental impact assessments (EIAs), area-based management tools, including marine protected areas (MPAs), capacity-building and transfer of marine technology, and marine genetic resources (MGRs) including benefit sharing.

– The WOC has been consistently working over the past decade to ensure that the ocean business community can be a part of the UN BBNJ process.
– A 2-page WOC briefing on the BBNJ and implications for ocean industries can be found here.
– The WOC is preparing a comprehensive review of the draft BBNJ Treaty for WOC Members and participants in the WOC BBNJ Business Coalition.
– At the upcoming final BBNJ negotiating session in 2020, the WOC is organizing the only high-level, multi-sector ocean business panel to be convened as part of the process.

2nd UN Ocean Conference (2–6 June, Lisbon)
Following on from the first UN Ocean Conference in 2017, the 2020 event theme is “Scaling Up Ocean Action Based on Science and Innovation for the Implementation of Goal 14: Stocktaking, Partnerships and Solutions”. The event is being developed to both assess the implementation of SDG 14 and identify new ways to promote its application and seeks to deliver a concise, action-oriented and inter-governmental declaration on science-based and innovative areas of action to support the implementation of Goal 14.

– The WOC is again working with the organizers of this 2nd UN Ocean Conference to help ensure the global ocean business and investment community is aware of the event and able to participate.

IUCN World Conservation Congress (WCC) (11–19 June, Marseille)
This 3 yearly gathering of the international conservation community will include substantial sessions and events on the ocean, on engaging business in conservation, nature-based solutions, conservation finance, etc.

– The WOC is exploring with IUCN on how to best engage the global ocean business and investment community in the WCC.

UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP 15 (5–10 October, Kunming, China)
The CBD’s 15th Conference of Parties will review the achievement and delivery of the CBD Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and seek to adopt the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. This includes proposals for governments to commit to the “30×30” target to safeguard at least 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030 through a network of highly protected marine areas where no destructive or extractive activities are allowed.

– The WOC participates in the CDB COPs to help ensure there is business input to working with other stakeholders on marine biodiversity conservation, and will do so in 2020.

UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP 26 (9-20 November, Glasgow)
Building on the growing role of the ocean in the UNFCCC discussions and the first “Blue COP” in 2019, there will be significant attention to the ocean aspects of climate change at the 26th Conference of Parties. This will include carbon emissions from shipping, ocean acidification, sea level rise (SLR), adaptation and resiliency in the face of extreme weather events.

– The WOC will continue to work to ensure the ocean business community is informed and engaged in the UNFCCC COP process.
– The WOC will advance its key program areas on port and coastal infrastructure adaptation to SLR and extreme weather events, especially for small islands.

For more information on these events and how the private sector can become involved, please contact WOC at info@oceancouncil.org.

For a comprehensive review of these major ocean policy institutions and processes and more, click here for the WOC report on “International Ocean Governance”.

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