Facilitating Dialogue and Strengthening Transboundary Cooperation with Legislators to Improve Marine Governance
The Need
The oceans cover 75% of the earth’s surface and support critical earth functions and countless human livelihoods. The world’s oceans have only recently started to gain recognition for the goods and services they provide, and the concept of the “blue economy” has emerged in recent years to highlight the close linkages between the sustainable use of ocean resources and the wellbeing of the people.
The blue economy refers to initiatives "to promote economic growth, social inclusion and the preservation or improvement of livelihoods while at the same time ensuring environmental sustainability of the oceans and coastal areas."
For the blue economy to function optimally, collaboration and commitment to the health and integrity of marine and coastal ecosystems is needed, on both a national and regional level.
Sustainable Marine Governance Faces Many Challenges:
On the transboundary level:
Lack of clear ownership over marine resources and rising competition drive overfishing and marine pollution.
On the national level:
Rising demand for resources strains policy-making, while overlapping jurisdictional authority and limited access to information limits policy enforcement.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) supports Strategic Action Programs (SAPs) for Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) through which countries work together toward long-term sustainability of shared LMEs.
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) supports a Regional Seas Program, which engages neighboring countries in comprehensive and specific actions to protect their common marine environment.
UNEP also coordinates the Global Programme of Action (GPA) -- a voluntary, action-oriented, intergovernmental program designed to prevent the degradation of the marine environment from land-based activities.
In PictureFishermen from The Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta (Spanish for Large Marsh of Saint Martha) in a demonstration to Colombian Congressmen, at an IUU Fishing mission hosted by Fundación ICCF Colombia.
An innovative approach for trans-boundary cooperation on marine conservation:
The caucus model is leveraged through a two-year project funded by the GEF in partnership with UNEP and implemented by the ICCF Group/Conservation Council of Nations to build upon existing conservation and ocean caucuses to raise awareness about blue economy opportunities and Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) Strategic Action Programmes (SAPs) and to elevate marine issues amongst legislators in order to facilitate regional cooperation.
The Major Components of the project include:
1. Facilitating targeted dialogues with legislators and national leaders in three regions in order to promote effective blue economy development and legal frameworks targeting the regulation of marine pollution
2.Knowledge management, sharing, and communications
Latin America And the Caribbean
The major conservation issues plaguing this transboundary marine area include unsustainable fisheries, habitat degradation, and pollution.
Learn MoreEast Africa
The major conservation issues plaguing this transboundary marine area include climate change adaptation and mitigation, critical habitat degradation, overexploitation and loss of marine biodiversity, and land-based marine pollution.
Learn MoreSoutheast Asia
There are several relevant Large Marine Ecosystems bordering Indonesia and Thailand, including the Indonesian Sea, Gulf of Thailand, and South China Sea.
Learn MoreRecent
Activities
Learn about the latest programs on marine governance that the ICCF Group is carrying out with its partners in Latin America and the Caribbean, East Africa, and Southeast Asia.
Learn moreIn PictureRoundtable event hosted by ICCF Colombia on marine governance.
Regional Headquarters