Global Ocean Summit makes Marine World Heritage “pitch for action”

From 22 to 25 April 2014, government leaders, ocean practitioners, business, science, donors and international agencies came together at the Global Oceans Action Summit for Food Security and Blue Growth. The Summit, hosted by the government of the Netherlands, aimed at identifying solutions, financing mechanisms and mobilizing innovative partnerships to scale up the efforts toward healthy oceans.

The World Heritage List includes 46 unique marine sites in 35 countries. By surface area, they cover 20% of all existing marine protected areas. A multitude of organizations, partners, donors and private sector agencies work in these exceptional places. Yet, reality shows that several of these outstanding marine places remain threated by unsustainable practices. As part of its “pitches for action”, the Summit made a call to join forces across all partners and collectively help nations that host these sites to truly live up to the spirit of the World Heritage Convention. Scaling up such efforts will ensure that future generations can continue to enjoy these unique ocean treasures.

The outcomes of the meeting serve as input to the post 2015 global agenda for sustainable development. A summary report is available at http://www.globaloceansactionsummit.com/.