About

The Global Partnership for Oceans will bring together institutional experience in ocean science, governance reform, and international finance to tackle widely documented problems of overfishing, pollution, and habitat loss. Photo: Shutterstock

The Global Partnership for Oceans is a growing alliance of more than 100 governments, international organizations, civil society groups, and private sector interests committed to addressing the threats to the health, productivity and resilience of the world’s oceans.

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.

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)

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,
The University of Queensland

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