What’s next for the future of our ocean? Consultation on international ocean governance

The European Commission and the European External Action Service have undertaken targeted consultation to assess development needs and options for the International Ocean Governance Agenda (JOIN(2016) 49),  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.

The targeted consultation aimed to identify opportunities for action in light of today’s challenges and opportunities in international ocean governance to deliver the Sustainable Development Goal on the oceans (SDG14) under the 2030 Agenda in support of the European Green Deal.

Concretely, the objectives of the consultation were to:

• re-examine the EU's role in international ocean governance;
• re-examine the three priorities of the current Agenda, its goals and the actions thereunder; and
• identify new policy areas or actions to tackle existing and emerging challenges.

A summary of the results of the targeted consultation is now available here.

Stakeholders within and beyond Europe were encouraged to participate, including public authorities, policy-makers, international organisations, NGOs, financial institutions, academic, scientific, social and economic partners.

The analysed submissions were considered in the discussions of the online IOG Forum stakeholder conference from December 14-16, 2020, and will contribute to the final recommendations presented by the IOG Forum in April 2021.