Third Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands: Moving the Global Oceans Agenda Forward January 23-28, 2006, UNESCO, Paris, France

The Third Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands: Moving the Global Oceans Agenda Forward, organized by the Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands, was held on January 23-28, 2006 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France. The Conference included 403 participants from 78 countries, with 38 ministers and high level government representatives in attendance. The Conference brought together key national level officials, regional organizations, UN agencies, donors, industry, non-governmental organizations, and scientists to assess progress achieved and obstacles faced in the implementation of international targets on oceans, coasts, and small island developing States (SIDS), especially those related to the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and other related agreements.


The conference and the ensuing report, Meeting Global Commitments on Oceans, Coasts, Freshwater, and Small Island States: How Well Are We Doing? reviewed the available information and provided a bottom line of progress achieved so far—a “report card”— on each of the WSSD and MDG ocean-related goals. The report underlined the difficulties involved in assessing progress, especially the lack of evaluation frameworks, including indicators; the fact that no one institution has been charged with collecting, on a periodic basis, national and international data on the entire range of issues related to oceans, especially regarding the cross-cutting goals (e.g., ecosystem management and integrated ocean and coastal management); the lack of regular collection and assessment of information on the social and economic well-being of coastal communities; and the absence of linkage among the WSSD/MDG goals which are related to one another.


Generally, participants at the Global Conference agreed that progress toward implementation of the global oceans targets has been slow, but that there are many promising developments. In some areas, such as integrated coastal and ocean management, GPA, protection of marine biodiversity, integrated water resources management, and UN coherence, one must conclude that some very tangible progress is being made, often with specific efforts underway in a growing number of countries.


In other areas such as fisheries and global marine assessment, the progress has been slower, but especially in fisheries, the groundwork seems to have been established for enhanced progress in the next phase. On small island developing states and oceans, while the 2005 Mauritius International Strategy has been adopted, its implementation is in doubt if financial resources and institutional capacity are not enhanced. As the custodians of large areas of the world’s oceans, SIDS need assistance and collaboration from the international community to enhance their capacity to delimit, manage, and enforce these areas. The least progress appears to be taking place in meeting the MDGs. In this regard, it is imperative that, increasingly, ocean and coastal management programs address poverty reduction as central goals. It is imperative, as well, that the welfare of coastal populations—their health, food security, quality of life, and the benefits they derive from the coastal and marine resources they own be periodically measured to assess the extent to which any of the MDG and WSSD goals are making the needed difference on the ground.


With regard to the next phase of further evolution in implementation of the WSSD and MDG goals, it is important, as well, to establish for each WSSD/MDG goal intermediate and readily measurable targets and timetables at the national level, as some countries such as the United Kingdom have done. The issue of coordinating the local implementation of various international mandates should also be addressed. With the WSSD and MDG mandates, nations are being asked to implement a variety of programs related to the ocean, coastal, and freshwater environments— integrated coastal and ocean management, ecosystem-management, integrated water resources management, GPA and control of land-based activities, biodiversity protection and networks of marine protected areas. On the-ground, these efforts, address similar issues and cover, to some extent, similar areas. As further implementation of these efforts gets underway, it will be important to assist nations in rationalizing and bringing synergy among these efforts.

2006 Global Conference Reports

The outcomes of the conference are reported in two volumes:

1.  Meeting the Commitments on Oceans, Coasts, and Small Island DevelopingStates Made at the 2002 

     World Summit on Sustainable Development: HowWell AreWe Doing? Co-Chairs’ Report – Volume 1,

     presents a summary of available information on progress made (or lack thereof) and obstacles faced

     in the implementation of the ocean, coasts, and SIDS targets of the WSSD and MDG, and other

     related agreements.

2.  Reports from the Third Global Conference onOceans, Coasts, and Islands: Moving the Global Oceans

     Agenda Forward, Co-Chairs’Report – Volume 2, provides the highlights of the Global Conference

     and summaries of discussions related to the attainment of major WSSD and MDG ocean goals.

The two-volume conference report were presented during the 7th Meeting of theUnited Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea in June 2006.