About
It aims to tackle documented problems of overfishing, pollution, and habitat loss. Together these problems are contributing to the depletion of a natural resource bank that provides nutrition, livelihoods and vital ecosystem services.
Timeline of the GPO
Phase 1
Conception
Announced in Singapore and launched at Rio+20, the Global Partnership for Oceans assembles a coalition of over 120 partners committed to ocean health.
- GPO Launch in Singapore - February 24, 2012
- First meeting of GPO partners - April 19, 2012
- Declaration at Rio+20 - June 16, 2012
Phase 2
Design
Follow the roadmap for scheduled developments in Partnership engagement, finance, design, ocean area action and resource mobilization.
Phase 3
Implementation
Coming Soon!
What we do?
The Partnership will work toward meeting the following interrelated objectives by 2022
Sustainable seafood and livelihoods from capture fisheries and aquaculture
In line with previous internationally agreed commitments* and taking into consideration growing impacts of climate change:
- Significantly increase global food fish production from both sustainable aquaculture and sustainable fisheries by adopting best practices and reducing environmental and disease risk to stimulate investment;/li>
- Reduce the open access nature of fisheries by creating responsible tenure arrangements, including secure access rights for fishers and incentives for them to hold a stake in the health of the fisheries; and
- Enable the world’s overfished stocks to be rebuilt and increase the annual net benefits of capture fisheries by at least $20 billion, including through reducing subsidies that promote overfishing.
Critical coastal and ocean habitats and biodiversity
In line with previous internationally agreed targets and to address the growing impacts of climate change:
- Halve the current rate of natural habitat loss and reduce habitat degradation and fragmentation, by applying ecosystem-based approaches to management;
- Increase marine managed and protected areas, and other effective area-based conservation measures, to include at least 10% of coastal and marine areas; and
- Conserve and restore natural coastal habitats to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience to climate change impacts.
Pollution reduction
In line with previous internationally agreed commitments and taking into consideration the growing impacts of climate change:
- Reduce pollution to levels not detrimental to ecosystem function and biodiversity; and
- Support implementation of the Global Program of Action to reduce pollution, particularly from marine litter, waste water and excess nutrients, and further develop consensus for achievable goals to reduce these pollutants.
*Note: The previously agreed international commitments and targets referenced in this Declaration include those made in Rio in 1992 in Agenda 21, and subsequently at Johannesburg in 2002 and in the Aichi Biodiversity Targets in Nagoya in 2010.
Key Issues
The GPO plans to work on the following ocean-related issues:
Key GPO Documents
- A Declaration for Healthy, Productive Oceans to Help Reduce Poverty - English, French (pdfs)
- Framework of the GPO (pdf)
- GPO Fact Sheet (pdf)
- Frequently Asked Questions (pdf)
- Africa Program for Fisheries (pdf)
- Strategic Vision for Global Program on Fisheries (pdf)
People
GPO Interim Working Group
The GPO Interim Working Group (IWG) is made up of 30 experienced people drawn from a diversity of GPO partner organizations. The working group is guiding the design phase of the GPO and expects to finalize its work by June 2013. Everyone on the working group is participating on a voluntary basis.
Minutes from the GPO Interim Working Group Meeting (pdfs)
- December 18, 2012
- January 15, 2013
- February 12, 2013
- April 2, 2013
- April 25-26, 2013
- May 28-29, 2013
Alastair Macfarlane, Executive Secretary, International Coalition of Fisheries Associations, International Policy and Market Access Manager, Seafood New Zealand |
Andrew Hudson, Head, UNDP Water & Ocean Governance Programme |
Annemarie Watt, Director, Environment and Climate Team, Australian Agency for International Aid (AusAID) |
Árni M. Mathiesen, Assistant Director-General, Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) |
Barbara Best, Senior Coastal Resource Management and Policy Specialist for the U.S. Agency for International Development |
Brett Jenks, President and CEO, RARE Conservation |
|
Bruce Chapman, Fisheries Advisor, African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States' Secretariat |
Charlotte Vick, Sylvia Earle Alliance/Mission Blue |
|
Deborah Patton, Executive Director of Applied Brilliance LLC |
Denis Matatiken, Chief Executive Officer, Seychelles National Park Authority |
|
Ernesto Godelman, Director, Central and South America International, Sustainable Fisheries Partnerships |
Geir Moe Sørensen, Director, Bilateral Maritime Affairs, Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs |
|
Inês Pires Araújo Ferreira, Environmental Engineer, Inter American Development Bank |
Jennifer Austin, Manager, Google Ocean Program |
|
Jorge Jimenez, Director General, MarViva Foundation |
Ken Kimble, Assistant General Merchandise Manager, Costco |
|
Lynne Zeitlin Hale, Director, Marine Conservation, The Nature Conservancy |
Marc Nolting, Senior Planning Officer and Programme Coordinator, Fisheries, Aquaculture and Coastal Zone Management, GIZ |
|
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Foundation Professor and Director, Centre for Marine Studies, |
Paul Holthus, Executive Director, World Ocean Council |
|
Peter Harris, UNEP/GRID |
R. Moses-Thompson, Results-based Management Specialist |
|
Rachel Allen, Senior Adviser, Minister of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, Jamaica |
Roger Bing, Vice President, Protein Purchasing, Darden Restaurants |
|
Roy Palmer, CEO, Seafood Experience Australia Limited |
Shannon Dionne, Acting Deputy Director, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) |
|
Susan Jackson, President, International Seafood Sustainability Foundation |
Takiora Ingram, Executive Director, All Islands Coral Reef Committee Secretariat |
|
Tom Grasso, Senior Advisor, Oceans Program, Environmental Defense Fund |
Tuiloma Neroni Slade, Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat |
GPO Interim Secretariat
The World Bank has agreed with other partners in the GPO to designate several of its staff to serve as an interim secretariat in support of design of the GPO. For any questions, please contact the team leader for this interim secretariat, Peter Kristensen, and for any media/communications questions please contact Elisabeth Mealey.
Blue Ribbon Panel
The Blue Ribbon Panel is comprised of leaders from 16 countries, representing government, the private sector, non-profit organizations, academia, and multi-lateral institutions. The Panel will provide recommendations to the Global Partnership for Oceans on the principles and practices for prioritizing and implementing sustainable ocean investment. Complete findings and recommendations from the panel will be presented at the Global Ocean Action Summit in The Hague.
Blue Ribbon Panel Information
Chris Lischewski, President and CEO, Bumble Bee Foods, U.S.A. |
David Obura, Founding Director, CORDIO East Africa |
Dawn Wright, Chief Scientist, Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) |
Dimitri Gutierrez, Director of Research in Oceanography and Climate Change, Institute of Sea of Peru |
Henry Demone, High Liner Foods Inc., Canada |
Jane Lubchenco, Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S.A. |
|
Jintao Xu, Professor, Natural Resources Economics, Peking University, China |
Johan H. Williams, Director General, Ministry of Fisheries, Norway; Chair of FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) |
|
John Tanzer, Director, WWF's Global Marine Program |
Kim Anh Nguyen, Nha Trang University, Vietnam |
|
Missy Feeley, Chief GeoScientist, ExxonMobil, U.S.A. |
Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chairperson, Global Environment Facility (GEF), U.S.A. and Japan |
|
Nelson Del Rio, Founder and Chairman, Emergent Intelligence Solutions |
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Foundation Professor and Director, Centre for Marine Studies, |
|
Ragnar Arnason, Professor, Fisheries Economics, University of Iceland |
Ray Hilborn, Professor, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, U.S.A. |
|
Rolph Payet, Ministry of Environment and Energy, Seychelles |
Sir Tipene O'Regan, The University of Auckland, New Zealand |
|
Sylvia Earle, Mission Blue/The Sylvia Earle Alliance, U.S.A. |
Thiraphong Chansiri, President, Thai Union Foods, Thailand |
|
Transform Agorau, Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) Office, Marshall Islands |
Tuiloma Neroni Slade, Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat |
Habitat Working Group
The Habitat Community of Practice (COP) works to further define actions and investment opportunities to achieve specific targets related to critical coastal and ocean habitats and biodiversity components described in the GPO draft framework. Follow updates here. Please direct any questions to Pawan Patil and Lynne Hale.
