The EU International Ocean Governance Forum

The International Ocean Governance Forum (IOG Forum) brought together ocean actors and stakeholders within and beyond Europe to share understanding, experiences and good practices on ocean governance. It was initiated to support the development of the EU’s International Ocean Governance Agenda (IOG Agenda) for the future of our oceans. This agenda selected 50 actions to ensure clean, healthy, safe, secure and sustainably used oceans. It is an integral part of the European Commission’s Green Deal and the EU’s response to the 2030 Agenda, in particular, the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 Life Below Water.

With the 3rd IOG Forum on April 20, 2021, the public process has now come to an end. The recommendations sourced from this will feed into an updated EU IOG Agenda, intended to be released in 2022. The recommendation report stemming from the IOG Forum is available here.

The IOG Forum mobilised stakeholders worldwide – including EU Member States, international organisations, the private sector, civil society and science actors – to share and discuss challenges, practical experiences, solutions and pre-conditions for success for:

● Improving the International Ocean Governance framework

● Reducing pressures on the ocean and seas and creating the conditions for a sustainable blue economy

● Strengthening international ocean research, data and knowledge

We thank participants for sharing their experiences, views and ideas to inspire this result-oriented dialogue on improving international governance of our oceans towards global sustainability objectives.

For more details, please see the IOG flyer and the IOG operational guidelines

Content-related questions can be sent to EU-Ocean-Governance-Forum@ec.europa.eu

Activities & Events of the IOG Forum

As a dynamic stakeholder platform to support the development of the EU’s international ocean governance agenda for the future of our oceans, the IOG Forum operated via four types of activities and events. Find out more about IOG Forum below!

Interactive Stakeholder Conferences

Bringing together stakeholders and experts within and beyond Europe for interactive dialogues on ocean challenges and governance solutions, the IOG Forum's stakeholder conferences support the development of the EU's IOG agenda. Following our launch in April 2020 and the 2nd conference in December, the third event took place on April 20, 2021.

Targeted Stakeholder Consultation

What’s next for the future of our ocean? The European Commission and the European External Action Service undertook consultation to assess needs and options for the IOG Agenda -- the EU’s plan of action to improve the international framework, reduce pressures, facilitate a sustainable blue economy, and strengthen international ocean research and data. It will feed into final Forum recommendations and a summary is now available here.

Online Expert Workshops of the IOG Forum

Workshops were held online in June and July 2020, bringing together small groups of experts to discuss key IOG challenges, practical experiences, solutions and pre-conditions for success. The workshops built on the discussion papers and webinars of the IOG Forum's three thematic working groups, and their results will feed into development of recommendations for future EU action on IOG. Get to know each of the workshop groups here.

IOG Thematic Working Groups

IOG Forum members worked across three thematic working groups (TWGs):

• TWG 1: Improving the international ocean governance framework
• TWG 2: Reducing pressure on the ocean and seas and creating the conditions for a sustainable blue economy
• TWG 3: Strengthening international ocean research, data and knowledge

Read on to discover more about each group, its members and activities.