UN-Oceans side event at the COP 26: Ocean Action = Climate Action

As highlighted during the UNFCCC Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue,[1]  understanding where ocean-based mitigation and adaptation solutions can be strengthened, replicated and upscaled is critical to the implementation and achievement of the Paris Agreement.

The ocean is the primary regulator of the global climate. Increasing GHG concentrations in the atmosphere are causing anthropogenic climate change, with long lasting impacts on the ocean (warming, acidification and deoxygenation), ice sheets and global sea level as well as on marine and coastal ecosystems, with associated impacts for billions of people in communities that depend on the ocean and its ecosystems, such as for livelihoods and food security.

This side event will showcase efforts that nations are taking, with the support of the UN, to enhance ocean-based mitigation and adaptation efforts for ecosystems and societies to address the current and future impacts and risks of climate change. Innovations include protecting blue carbon ecosystems through nature-based solutions, supporting climate adaptation measures through hazards mitigation, evidence-based risk and vulnerability assessments, adaptive aquatic food production systems, and the promotion of low carbon/blue economies. The importance of science, technological innovation, and effective capacity development in guiding and informing these strategies will also be addressed.

UN-Oceans

“UN-Oceans is an inter-agency mechanism that seeks to enhance the coordination, coherence and effectiveness of competent organizations of the United Nations system and the International Seabed Authority, within existing resources, in conformity with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the respective competences of each of its participating organizations and the mandates and priorities approved by their respective governing bodies.”

This side event is carried out in the context of the UN-Oceans Voluntary Commitment registered at the Ocean Conference in 2017, under which the members of UN-Oceans committed to “provide information on ocean-related international regulatory and policy frameworks to the widest number of stakeholders also to ensure that they are aware of the legal instruments and policy outcomes which are relevant to SDG 14 and other ocean-related goals and targets of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

[1] https://unfccc.int/event/ocean-and-climate-change-dialogue

Please monitor the SEORS Webpage for updated information. All side events can be watched live via the COP 26 Side Events YouTube channel.

Registered COP 26 delegates can also access the event through the COP 26 Platform. 

Please use this link to view the event.