What are the Sustainable Development Goals?
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.
The 17 SDGs are integrated—that is, they recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others, and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability.
Goal 14: Life Below Water
The world’s oceans – their temperature, chemistry, currents and life – drive global systems that make the Earth habitable for humankind. How we manage this vital resource is essential for humanity as a whole, and to counterbalance the effects of climate change.
Over three billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods. However, today we are seeing 30 percent of the world’s fish stocks overexploited, reaching below the level at which they can produce sustainable yields.
Oceans also absorb about 30 percent of the carbon dioxide produced by humans, and we are seeing a 26 percent rise in ocean acidification since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Marine pollution, an overwhelming majority of which comes from land-based sources, is reaching alarming levels, with an average of 13,000 pieces of plastic litter to be found on every square kilometre of ocean.
The SDGs aim to sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems from pollution, as well as address the impacts of ocean acidification. Enhancing conservation and the sustainable use of ocean-based resources through international law will also help mitigate some of the challenges facing our oceans.
Facts and figures
SDG 14 targets
14.1: by 2025 - Prevent and significanly reduce marine pollution of all kinds
14.2: by 2020 - Sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts
14.3: Minimize and address the impacts of ocean acidification, including through enhanced scientific cooperation at all levels
14.4: Effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices
14.5: by 2020 - Conserve at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas
14.6: By 2020, prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to over capacity and overfishing, eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
14.7: By 2030, increase the economic benefits to Small Island developing States and least developed countries from the sustainable use of marine resources.
For more information at link https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/
(Sources UNDP & IOC/UNESCO)
The International Blue Carbon Initiative is a coordinated, global program focused on mitigating climate change through the conservation and restoration of coastal and marine ecosystems. Coastal ecosystems are some of the most productive on Earth. They provide us with essential ecosystem services, such as coastal protection from storms and nursery grounds for fish. We also know that they provide another integral service - sequestering and storing "blue" carbon from the atmosphere and oceans and hence are an essential piece of the solution to global climate change.
What is the Blue Carbon?
Blue carbon is the carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems. The Blue Carbon Initiative currently focuses on carbon in coastal ecosystems - mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses. These ecosystems sequester and store large quantities of blue carbon in both the plants and the sediment below. For example, over 95% of the carbon in seagrass meadows is stored in the soils.
Where is it?
The Blue Carbon Initiative focuses on mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses, which are found on every continent except Antarctica. These coastal ecosystems cover between 13.8 and 15.2 million hectares (Mha), 2.2 and 40 Mha, and 17.7 and 60 Mha, respectively. Combined, these ecosystems cover approximately 49 Mha.
Mangroves
Tidal marshes
Seagrasses
Why is it important?
- When protected or restored, blue carbon ecosystems sequester and store carbon.
- When degraded or destroyed, these ecosystems emit the carbon they have stored for centuries into the atmosphere and oceans and become sources of greenhouse gases. Experts estimate that as much as 1.02 billion tons of carbon dioxide are being released annually from degraded coastal ecosystems, which is equivalent to 19% of emissions from tropical deforestation globally.
- Mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses are critical along the world's coasts, supporting coastal water quality, healthy fisheries, and coastal protection against floods and storms. For example, mangroves are estimated to be worth at least US$1.6 billion each year in ecosystem services that support coastal livelihoods and human populations around the world.
What is being done?
- The Blue Carbon Initiative works to protect and restore coastal ecosystems for their role in reducing impacts of global climate change. To support this work, the Initiative is coordinating the International Blue Carbon Scientific Working Group and International Blue Carbon Policy Working Group, which provide guidance for needed research, project implementation and policy priorities.
- Projects are being developed at sites globally to protect and restore coastal ecosystems for their "blue" carbon value. Learn more in the Field Work section.
- Research into the sequestration, storage and loss of carbon from blue carbon systems is ongoing. View recent reports and scientific papers in our Library at http://thebluecarboninitiative.org/
(Sources UNESCO/IOC)
