Ladies and Gentlemen,
Welcome. In just four days, Heads of State and Government, and around 4000 representatives from the business and science community, civil society organizations and the UN system, together with ocean and marine life experts and advocates from across the globe, will converge on the United Nations. They are coming together for the first-ever UN Ocean Conference, which will aim to mobilize urgent and tangible action to improve the state of the Ocean.
I wish to firstly express my deep gratitude to the Governments of Fiji and Sweden for their tireless efforts in making this Conference happen, and their valuable guidance throughout the preparatory process.
I also extend my deep appreciation to the President of the General Assembly, whose dedication and vision have been essential in getting us to where we are today.
This Conference will coincide with World Environment Day on 5 June and World Oceans Day on 8 June.
The Conference will explore how to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 14, which seeks to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
Among other things, the Conference will comprise plenary meetings and seven interactive, multi-stakeholder partnership dialogues, which will focus on the targets of SDG 14. These dialogues will aim to scale up and replicate existing successful initiatives. And they will launch new partnerships that will advance the implementation of Goal 14.
Although the Conference is dedicated to supporting SDG 14, action on this Goal will help in the implementation efforts of all 17 Goals of the 2030 Agenda, as they are all interconnected.
For example, healthy oceans directly contribute to:poverty eradicationfood securityhealthclean waterrenewable energysustainable livelihoods and decent workeconomic growth andclimate regulation
The conference will address such interlinkages.
We expect three key outcomes from the Conference:
1. Member States will adopt a ¡°Call for Action¡±: a concise, focused and concrete Declaration to set the course towards a more sustainable future for our oceans.
2. A list of voluntary commitments for the implementation of Goal 14 ¨C gathered before and during the conference ¨C will be another key outcome. The commitments are initiatives undertaken by anyone, individually or in partnership. To date, over 500 voluntary commitments have been registered, covering all SDG 14 targets, and all ocean basins. More than a third of all these commitments are from Governments.
3. The report of the Conference, which will include the Co-Chairs¡¯ summary of the partnership dialogues and a list of voluntary commitments.
The Conference will also feature more than 150 side events, 31 exhibitions, and an SDG media zone with live interviews and discussions. There will be a diverse mix of high-level officials, experts, celebrities and other ocean advocates. Please have a look at the Conference website at oceanconference.un.org for further information.
Thank you and look forward to seeing you at the Conference.
Welcome. In just four days, Heads of State and Government, and around 4000 representatives from the business and science community, civil society organizations and the UN system, together with ocean and marine life experts and advocates from across the globe, will converge on the United Nations. They are coming together for the first-ever UN Ocean Conference, which will aim to mobilize urgent and tangible action to improve the state of the Ocean.
I wish to firstly express my deep gratitude to the Governments of Fiji and Sweden for their tireless efforts in making this Conference happen, and their valuable guidance throughout the preparatory process.
I also extend my deep appreciation to the President of the General Assembly, whose dedication and vision have been essential in getting us to where we are today.
This Conference will coincide with World Environment Day on 5 June and World Oceans Day on 8 June.
The Conference will explore how to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 14, which seeks to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
Among other things, the Conference will comprise plenary meetings and seven interactive, multi-stakeholder partnership dialogues, which will focus on the targets of SDG 14. These dialogues will aim to scale up and replicate existing successful initiatives. And they will launch new partnerships that will advance the implementation of Goal 14.
Although the Conference is dedicated to supporting SDG 14, action on this Goal will help in the implementation efforts of all 17 Goals of the 2030 Agenda, as they are all interconnected.
For example, healthy oceans directly contribute to:poverty eradicationfood securityhealthclean waterrenewable energysustainable livelihoods and decent workeconomic growth andclimate regulation
The conference will address such interlinkages.
We expect three key outcomes from the Conference:
1. Member States will adopt a ¡°Call for Action¡±: a concise, focused and concrete Declaration to set the course towards a more sustainable future for our oceans.
2. A list of voluntary commitments for the implementation of Goal 14 ¨C gathered before and during the conference ¨C will be another key outcome. The commitments are initiatives undertaken by anyone, individually or in partnership. To date, over 500 voluntary commitments have been registered, covering all SDG 14 targets, and all ocean basins. More than a third of all these commitments are from Governments.
3. The report of the Conference, which will include the Co-Chairs¡¯ summary of the partnership dialogues and a list of voluntary commitments.
The Conference will also feature more than 150 side events, 31 exhibitions, and an SDG media zone with live interviews and discussions. There will be a diverse mix of high-level officials, experts, celebrities and other ocean advocates. Please have a look at the Conference website at oceanconference.un.org for further information.
Thank you and look forward to seeing you at the Conference.
File date:
Thursday, June 1, 2017