Context: Recently, 2nd UNOC ended with Lisbon Declaration titled ‘Our Ocean, Our Future: call for action’. It was co-hosted by Kenya and Portugal in Lisbon. The declaration on ocean conservation was adopted by all the 198 members of United Nations.

• 1st UNOC was in UN HQ (New York) in 2017

Lisbon Declaration

• Protecting at least 30% of national maritime zones by 2030

• Achieving carbon neutrality by 2040

• Allocating funds to research on ocean acidification, climate resilience and surveillance

• Scale-up Science-based and innovative actions to address ocean emergency

• Support implementation of SDG14 (life below water) by empowering women and girls- recognising their participation is crucial to building a sustainable ocean-based economy

• Protect biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, which lie outside the 200-mile (322-kilometre) exclusive economic zones of countries.

Key Facts

• On the last day of UN Ocean Conference 2022, member nations committed to follow innovative and science-based actions on an urgent basis

• They recognised that developing countries, specifically least developed countries and small island developing states, need assistance with capacity building.

• They also agreed to work on controlling, reducing and preventing, marine pollution. Marine pollution includes- Nutrient pollution, Solid waste discharges, Hazardous substances, Untreated wastewater, Emissions from maritime sector and Anthropogenic underwater noise.

• Financing Solutions

Other pledges that countries took include

• Developing and promoting innovative financing solutions, in order to create sustainable ocean-based economies

• Expanding nature-based solutions, for conserving and preserving coastal communities.

Significance of the declaration

• Adoption of the draft declaration, sends strong signal of urgently improving the health, resilience and sustainable use of the ocean.  In the final draft of the declaration, countries regrated for their failure in achieving targets set for 2020. Thereafter, they renewed commitment to take urgent action and cooperate at sub-regional, regional and global levels to achieve all targets without undue delay.

Empowering women and girls

• Countries also committed to empower women and girls, in order to recognise that; their participation is crucial in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 14 and building a sustainable ocean-based economy.

Fifth session of Intergovernmental conference

• The UN Ocean Conference 2022 has set stage for “fifth intergovernmental conference on international legally binding instrument for conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity” for areas beyond the national jurisdiction. 

• The fifth round of negotiations for implementing international treaty is scheduled to held from August 15-26, 2022 in New York. It is aimed at protecting biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. National Jurisdiction lie outside the exclusive economic zones of countries.