GOBI Coordinator, Prof. David Johnson, has attended the third Sustainable Oceans Initiative (SOI) Global Dialogue meeting in Busan, South Korea. The focus of the meeting was to build partnerships and enhance the capacity of regional seas organisations and regional fishery bodies to conserve and sustainably use marine and coastal biodiversity.
Participants recognised that marine biodiversity is essential to economic and social prosperity but is endangered by overfishing and climate change, among others. They further explored how to embed a whole-of-society approach to sustainable development as envisaged by the Convention on Biological Diversity’s post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, while calling for an improved understanding of how the ocean is used by different stakeholders.
Interventions from regional group representatives included updates on:
- the potential benefits of cross-sectoral collaboration on fisheries, environment, and biodiversity among regional organisations
- how cross-sectoral collaboration at the regional scale has already enhanced efforts towards global goals, including in the areas of sustainable ecosystem-based management of fisheries and the impacts of fisheries on ecosystems, managing pressures interacting with the effects of climate change, controlling pollution, area-based management, and the protection of threatened species and habitats
- how cross-sectoral cooperation and coordination have been tailored to the specific circumstances of each region, and
- practical experiences and lessons learned on interregional cooperation, which led to enhanced parallel activities or joint activities in other regions
Closing remarks reminded everyone that establishing trust takes time and effort for which face-to-face, continuous, and frank communication is required.
Text and images adapted from the IISD Earth Negotiation Bulletin
