Global Conference on Oceans and Coasts at Rio+10: Toward the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg,December 3-7, 2001, UNESCO, Paris
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The Global Forum organized the first global conference on oceans and coasts with a focus on Oceans and Coasts at Rio+10: Toward the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg (at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on December 3-7, 2001). Convened nearly ten years after the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, the Global Conference assessed the status of oceans and coasts and progress achieved over the previous decade, identifying continuing and new challenges, and laying the groundwork for the inclusion of an oceans agenda at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). The 2001 conference involved 424 participants from 61 countries, with leading experts from governments, United Nations agencies and other intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector. The conference found that significant progress had indeed been made in ocean and coastal management (ICM) since the 1992 Earth Summit, especially in terms of: the adoption and implementation of a number of major international ocean agreements; new funding initiatives in ocean and coastal management; many new initiatives in ICM by governments at national and local levels; and significant progress in the development of knowledge, data, and information systems on oceans and coasts. However, the “on-the-ground” condition of marine resources (including fisheries, marine mammals, coral reefs) experienced declines during this period and was threatened. Similarly, poverty continued unabated in coastal communities in the developing world. The conference noted that ICM programs must fully incorporate poverty reduction goals and address issues of public health in coastal areas (e.g., 90% of sewage in the developing world is untreated posing serious health risks).
The conference noted that “we are in a critical situation of declining trends that requires immediate actions by nations and by governing bodies worldwide…….It is essential that we link economic development, social welfare, and resource conservation in order to achieve sustainability of oceans and coasts.” The conference issued an urgent Call to Action to decisionmakers in the WSSD process to develop a detailed action plan for the sustainable development of the world’s oceans and coasts. The 2001 conference is perceived as having been catalytic in placing ocean, coastal, and island issues on the WSSD agenda which resulted in the adoption of an extensive set of global targets and timetables related to oceans, coasts, and small island states, as the following comments suggest:
The persistent efforts of all interested groups, beginning with the Global Conference on Oceans and Coasts at Rio+10, persuaded the preparatory meetings for the Johannesburg Conference that not only was UNCLOS not the end of the road, but also that many of the commitments of the
UNCED at Rio remained unfulfilled. UN Secretary General’s report on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (March 3, 2003, A/58/65, p.7):
"The Global Conference in 2001 was one of the most informative and important
international events and really shaped what happened at the World Summit on
SustainableDevelopment in a positive way. The Conference was very valuable in
placing ocean, coastal, and SIDS issues on theglobal agenda, and it produced so much
important information that the international community kept using the information
generated for a least a year."
-- Phil Burgess, former Co-Chair,
UN Open-ended Informal Consultative
Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea,
June 13, 2006, New York City
The outcomes of the 2001 conference were reported in four volumes:
• Co-Chairs' Report, Ensuring the Sustainable Development of Oceans and Coasts: A Call to Action
• Concluding Statement by the Conference Co-Chairs
• Ministerial Perspectives on Oceans and Coasts at Rio+10
• Reports of the Conference Working Groups
