Contact: Larissa Milo-Dale
On this year’s World Wildlife Day (3 March), the WWF European Policy Office (EPO) launched a report directed to decision makers underscoring the failure of EU and global leadership to implement the United Nations’ (UN) 2030 Agenda.
WWF’s assessment reveals that, five years on from the adoption of the UN 2030 Agenda, the global signatories of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are failing to achieve SDG14, the Goal for conservation and sustainable use of our ocean. Three of the four SDG14 targets due in 2020 will not have been achieved by the end of this year, with the fourth target only partly achieved.
Photo: United Nations
Collectively, the ten SDG14 targets aim to secure ocean resilience through robust protection of its diverse ecosystems and to safeguard its role as a vital carbon sink — outcomes which directly support livelihoods and economies tied to our seas. SDG14 is shown to be significantly connected with all other SDGs, with 38% of all 169 SDG targets only achievable when the SDG14 targets have been successfully accomplished, particularly SDG1 (No Poverty), SDG2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG13 (Climate Action). Despite the marine environment’s importance to advance the 2030 Agenda, political will and finance remain insufficient.
The report, Improving International Ocean Governance for Life Below Water, was launched at a high-level event in Brussels, co-hosted by two Members of European Parliament, Catherine Chabaud and Grace O’Sullivan. In his keynote address at the event, Portugal’s Minister of the Sea, Ricardo Serrão Santos, expressed his disbelief at how SDG14 is ranked as the least important of all the SDGs when the evidence shows how achieving the full 2030 Agenda depends on the success of SDG14 targets.
As the world’s largest seafood market and with a marine area covering over six million square kilometres across four distinct sea regions, WWF is calling on the EU to lead by example and stand by its commitments to all life above and below water. A transformation of EU and international ocean governance is urgently required to address the challenges and shortcomings described in the report. In the EU, this starts with the development of a coherent, overarching strategy to ensure that all the SDGs are achieved. The postponed UN Ocean Conference, Our Ocean Conference, CBD COP and COP26 are critical junctures to strengthen good ocean governance, and WWF will be working at EU and national levels to see tangible outcomes from these discussions.
This article is part of the WWF Baltic Newsletter – May 2020
