Ocean Action Hub

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Splendor of the living mangrove

13 Aug 2020 - In Cuba, ecosystem-based adaptation is a cost-effective way to preserve and restore natural habitats and protect coastal communities.

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“We ourselves were destroying this world, but now we have a project of environmental education, we work with all the schools and are linked to the population. Here you can breathe a healthy world.” —María Teresa, 54, Mayabeque Province, Cuba

Nature, now more than ever, needs us to pay attention to its warning signals and to take care of it, so it can take care of us.  

María Teresa, 54, is the administrator of the protected area of the Gulf of Batabanó, in Mayabeque, Cuba. She knows that in Cuba, loss and damage to protective mangroves makes coastal communities vulnerable.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE HERE: https://undp-climate.exposure.co/splendor-of-the-living-mangrove?source=share-undp-climate

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Ending Plastic Pollution Innovation Challenge in ASEAN

21 Jul 2020 - Applications are open!

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21 Jul 2020 - Applications are open! Apply to the ASEAN-wide EPPIC competition with your innovative solution to plastic pollution for a chance to receive $18,000 funding and support from UNDP.

Deadline: 20 August 2020

Apply here: http://plasticchallenge.undp.org.vn

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Time for Nature: A youth video campaign

25 Jun 2020 - We stand with young people. And we want to ensure their voices are heard. It's time to #SaveOurOcean.

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25 Jun 2020 - We stand with young people. And we want to ensure their voices are heard. It's time to #SaveOurOcean.

Share a video using hashtag #ForNature and tags @UNDP and @UNEP and tell the world why it’s time #ForNature.

Full details: http://https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/time-for-nature.html

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The sea is the future

24 Jun 2020 - From illegal fisher, to reformed leader, fostering coastal and marine protection through a sea change of partnerships, empowerment and inclusion.

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24 Jun 2020 - From illegal fisher, to reformed leader, fostering coastal and marine protection through a sea change of partnerships, empowerment and inclusion.

The Philippines is a major fishing nation, on which the livelihoods of more than 35 million people directly rely. Ocean health is key for the planet and its people to thrive.

For Quirsito ‘Bok’ Cajegas, a fisher in Davao Gulf, Philippines, staunch advocacy of marine conservation comes with the territory.

But it wasn’t always this way.



Before his reformation, Bok was a self-described illegal fisher. For 23 years, Bok employed illicit compressor fishing methods, and once opposed the establishment of a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Barangay Bato Sta Cruz, Davao del Sur.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE HERE: https://undp-biodiversity.exposure.co/the-sea-is-the-future

Image: Philippine fisher compressor diving, Photo credit: Alex Hofford

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The Ocean is our Storekeeper - Kiribati

9 Jun 2020 - Climate-resilient farming promotes food security in the outer islands of Kiribati. People living on the Abemama atoll of Kiribati are surrounded by warming seas.

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9 Jun 2020 - Climate-resilient farming promotes food security in the outer islands of Kiribati. People living on the Abemama atoll of Kiribati are surrounded by warming seas. For fishers like Teboboua, this means scarcer, smaller fish, and even more challenges in finding enough food to feed his family. For every I-Kiribati, ocean health is imperative for survival.

"Without a quality ocean environment, we are less likely to survive" - Teboboua Biribo.

Teboboua, aged 62, was born and raised in Abemama, Kiribati. With five children and an equal number of grandchildren, he emigrated from Abemama in 1995 in search of work, and returned in 2017.



"Upon my return with my family, I have learnt that climate change is a real issue that has threatened many lives throughout Kiribati. I have seen huge differences in Abemama compared to how it was in my youth."

CONTINUE READING ONLINE HERE: https://undp-climate.exposure.co/the-ocean-is-our-store-keeper

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UN entities and private sector join forces to tackle marine invasive species and reduce emissions

8 Jun 2020 - A ground-breaking Global Industry Alliance (GIA) has been launched to tackle two of the most pressing environmental issues of our time – invasive species and greenhouse gas (G

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8 Jun 2020 - A ground-breaking Global Industry Alliance (GIA) has been launched to tackle two of the most pressing environmental issues of our time – invasive species and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The GIA brings together stakeholders in the private sector and the GloFouling Partnerships, a project led by United Nations entities to address the transfer of harmful aquatic species through biofouling.

The new GIA will accelerate the development of solutions to improve the management of marine biofouling, which is the build-up of aquatic organisms on ships’ hulls or submerged structures such as platforms and aquaculture installations. Biofouling can lead to the introduction of potentially invasive species to new environments, where they may threaten native species and cause irreversible damage to biodiversity. It also has measurable impacts on a number of economic sectors such as fisheries, aquaculture and ocean energy. Once established in a new ecosystem, invasive species are extremely difficult - if not impossible - to eradicate.

The new Global Industry Alliance (GIA) for Marine Biosafety brings together private sector companies from various industries affected by biofouling, including shipping, aquaculture, offshore oil and gas and ocean renewable energies. These maritime champions will work together with the GloFouling Partnerships Project, a joint initiative between the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The key aims of the GIA are to leverage human, technological and financial resources; facilitate industry input into policy developments and a positive pull for reform processes; and the development and dissemination of technological solutions to improve biofouling management. 

CONTINUE READING ONLINE HERE: https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/news-centre/news/2020/un-entities-and-private-sector-join-forces-to-tackle-invasive-sp.html

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The Ocean and Covid-19

8 Jun 2020 - How has COVID-19 affected the ocean economy?

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8 Jun 2020 - How has COVID-19 affected the ocean economy? On World Ocean Day UNDP's Andrew Hudson examines the Covid-driven changes to fisheries, aquaculture, shipping & tourism and UNDP's support.

The dramatic global economic slowdown caused by COVID-19 is having pervasive effects not only on jobs, economies and governments but also on terrestrial and marine ecosystems. In the near term, the impacts of COVID-19 on the health of the ocean have largely been positive due to the reduction in various sectoral pressures that lead to pollution, overfishing, habitat loss/conversion, invasive species introductions and the impacts of climate change on the ocean. While the ocean may enjoy some near-term benefits, the livelihoods and food security of tens or even hundreds of millions of people may be seriously affected.

There is already evidence that significant slowdowns are occurring in fisheries, shipping, coastal tourism, coastal development, and oil and gas extraction. In a recent informal poll conducted by the Economist during one of its World Ocean Initiative webinars, participants ranked the following ocean sectors as impacted most by COVID-19: tourism 70.7 percent, fisheries 10.4 percent, offshore oil and gas 7.2 percent, shipping 6.2 percent, offshore renewables 2.9 percent and aquaculture 2.6 percent.  

CONTINUE READING ONLINE HERE: https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/blog/2020/the-ocean-and-covid-19.html

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Outer islands; inner sanctum: Expanding the Seychelles' protected area network

 6 Apr 2020 - Will include its biodiverse coralline Outer Islands.

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 6 Apr 2020 - Will include its biodiverse coralline Outer Islands.

The Republic of Seychelles is facing a perfect storm: on one hand, government and industry increasingly see the ocean as an important source of economic growth; on the other, they are tasked with countering the existential threat the ocean faces.

But this productive challenge has resulted in a success worthy of celebration.

On March 26, 2020, the Government of Seychelles announced a landmark achievement: protecting 30% of the country’s ocean territory.

The expansion of Marine Protected Areas to nearly a third of Seychelles’ ocean territory, totalling an area of 410,000 square kilometres - an area larger than Germany - is an exemplar of green practices supporting their blue economy.



CONTINUE READING ONLINE HERE: https://undp-biodiversity.exposure.co/outer-islands-inner-sanctum

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A Holistic Approach for Sustainable Fisheries and a Blue Economy

8 Apr 2020 - To help overfished stocks recover, as well as to safeguard those that are still within sustainable harvesting limits, both the private and public sectors have important roles to play. 

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8 Apr 2020 - As consumer demand for wild caught seafood continues to grow, so do the pressures that lead to overfishing and collapses of global fisheries.  To help overfished stocks recover, as well as to safeguard those that are still within sustainable harvesting limits, both the private and public sectors have important roles to play.  The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is currently implementing an innovative project, the Global Sustainable Supply Chains for Marine Commodities Project (GMC Project), and just released a new publication "The GMC Project: Our Model and Early Results", that describes its unique approach to engage different public and private sector actors along the seafood supply chain to drive sustainability into 9 distinct fisheries in Asia and Latin America. 

“As we enter the first year of the UN Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals, UNDP is working actively with multiple partners to build a sustainable Blue Economy that fosters a healthy marine environment,” said Diego Orellana, GMC International Project Coordinator.“Collective action and public private partnerships will help unlock society's potential to achieve the 2030 Agenda and safeguard the resources, services and livelihoods that are linked to our oceans.” added Orellana.

After two years of implementation, the GMC Project has produced compelling results in the four countries in which it operates: Costa Rica, Ecuador, Indonesia and the Philippines.

On the one hand, the project focuses on assisting national planning and fisheries authorities to facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogue spaces called Sustainable Marine Commodity Platforms to formulate policies aimed at improving the sustainability and effective management of the targeted fisheries in their corresponding Large Marine Ecosystems. 

The Sustainable Marine Commodity Platforms adapt the UNDP-Green Commodities Programme methodology to the fisheries context and seek at once to promote systemic change for commodity supply chains (sustainable production and demand) while assisting state actors to apply the ecosystem approach to fisheries management. These platforms aim to produce National Action Plans or Fisheries Management Plans with active multi-stakeholder participation.

Simultaneously, the GMC project’s NGO partner, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP), works to engage international seafood retailers and buyers to help support the critical improvements needed for the sustainability of fisheries. In short, the model harnesses market incentive tools and bottom-up public governance efforts to effectively drive sustainability to meet in the middle of fishery supply chains.

To date, the project has facilitated new fisheries policy consultation forums in Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Indonesia and has strengthened the fisheries management Technical Working Groups in the Philippines. The GMC Project is also providing direct assistance to seven Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) and indirect support to another two.  Between these nine FIPs the project is contributing to improve the sustainability of an estimated 344,313 metric tons of annual seafood landings.  SFP has also helped eight major global seafood retailers to adopt or improve their sustainable seafood purchasing policies, and have engaged an additional 29 international seafood supplying companies in four relevant Supply Chain Roundtables to support fisheries improvements across the globe.

The GMC Project with the support of its partner SFP has helped secure industry financing for the sustainability of fisheries.  In Ecuador, for example, the GMC Project provided seed funding to initiate the Small Pelagic FIP, and in return, the Ecuadorian private sector FIP implementers committed more than $1.5 million dollars to implement the FIP’s five-year work plan.  This FIP, which is comprised of 19 Ecuadorian fishing and fishmeal producing companies, is aiming to achieve sustainable certified from IFFO-RS, the world’s leading sustainable certifying agency for reduction fisheries.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE: https://globalmarinecommoditiesproject.exposure.co/a-holistic-approach-for-sustainable-fisheries-and-a-blue-economy

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The GMC Project: Our Model and Early Results

8 Apr 2020 - This UNDP report aims to serve as a first public presentation or the model and early results of the The Global Sustainable Supply Chains for Marine Commodities (GMC) Project, and that it may open a door for collaboration and sharing with institutions and stakeholders working to promote systemic change in the fisheries sector.

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8 Apr 2020 - The Global Sustainable Supply Chains for Marine Commodities (GMC) Project is a Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded interregional initiative implemented by the Ministries and Bureaus of Fisheries, Production and Planning of Costa Rica, Ecuador, Indonesia and Philippines, with technical support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and facilitated by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP).

The GMC Project contributes to the transformation of international seafood markets by mainstreaming sustainability in seafood supply chains originating in developing countries. The project harnesses the power of emerging market-based tools such as seafood ecolabelling programs, international retailer corporate purchasing policies, Sustainable Marine Commodity Platforms (SMCPs), and Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) to, together, integrate sustainability in fishery management and supply chain operations.

The project develops the capacities of national regulatory authorities to more effectively manage priority fisheries and it will generate lessons learned to be shared worldwide with fisheries management practitioners.

The project’s principal objective is to mainstream sustainability into seafood supply chains by employing market mechanisms and tools, and by facilitating multi-stakeholder dialogue to craft science-based and consensus-driven policies.

CONTINUE READING ONLINE: https://globalmarinecommodities.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/UNDP-GMC-Project_Report_2020.pdf

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