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Regional Seas Weekly News
A compilation of news, events, publications from the Regional Seas Programme and other sources.
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FROM THE REGIONAL SEAS CONVENTIONS AND ACTION PLANS (RSCAPs)
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Loss and damage caused by the climate crisis was the focus of a half-day in depth workshop for Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) on Wednesday 14 September 2022. Facilitated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) in partnership with Climate Analytics and One CROP, the PSIDS Virtual In-Depth Workshop on Loss and Damage provided a critical opportunity for the Pacific to share experiences and advance discussions on the call for the establishment of a Loss and Damage Finance Facility.
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The declaration of a La Niña for the third consecutive year in the Pacific by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has come with a warning from the WMO Pacific Regional Climate Centre Network (RCC-N) for communities in the central equatorial Pacific to prepare for a return to drier than normal conditions and communities in the northwest and southwest Pacific for higher than normal rainfall.
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Inauguration Ceremony, 14 September 2022 of First regional Task Force Meeting on Biofouling Management for South Asia 14 & 15 September 2022 Malé, Maldives. Speech by Chairperson Dr. Md. Masumur RahmanDirector GeneralSouth Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP)
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Chris joined UNEP in September 2004 and has been overseeing the Cartagena Convention Secretariat’s Assessment and Management of Environmental Pollution Sub-Programme. Since 2015, he has also managed the Secretariat’s Communication, Education, Training and Awareness (CETA) sub-programme overseeing among others, the coordination of the Intergovernmental Meetings and Conference of Parties.
He has over 30 years of national and regional programme and project management experience, leading the implementation of multi-country projects on wastewater management, solid waste management, and integrated coastal zone and watershed management. Under his stewardship, the Land Based Sources of Marine Pollution Protocol of the Cartagena Convention entered into force and the number of Contracting Parties increased from 2 to 15. He co-authored the region’s first Regional Marine Litter Action Plan, Regional Marine Litter Strategy, Regional Nutrients Pollution Reduction Strategy, and the first State of Convention Area Report on Marine Pollution.
He has authored and co-authored several peer reviewed publications on oceans governance, pollution, environmental health, and monitoring and analysis.
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The Pacific region is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters. Each year, the region faces economic losses amounting to USD 500 million. With climate change likely to continue, the magnitude of these disasters will only increase. Therein lies the need for a long-term solution to weather-related extreme events and multi-hazard early warning systems (MHEWS), a message delivered by the Director of Tonga’s National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) and President of the World Meteorological Organisation Regional Association V (WMO RA V), Mr ‘Ofa Fa’anunu, during the Pacific Disaster Risk Management Ministers Meeting held in Denarau, Fiji.
Mr Fa’anunu presented on the Weather Ready Pacific Decadal Programme of Investment, an initiative developed by the Pacific Meteorological Council (PMC), with the support the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), WMO, and the Government of Australia through the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
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The Nairobi Convention News Round up is a compilation of recent marine and coastal environment news from the Western Indian Ocean region and around the World.
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2nd part of the COBSEA IGM in Hanoi, Vietnam on 12 -13 October 2022
The evaluation of the implementation of COBSEA's Strategic Directions 2018-2022 and elements for a new (draft) Strategic Direction 2023-2027 will be presented during the COBSEA Intergovernmental Meeting 25 Part two (IGM 25.2)
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The first session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC1) to develop an Internationally legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, will take place in Punta del Este from 28 November to 2 December 2022.
The multi-stakeholder forum is planned to take place for the full day on 26 November, and regional consultations and bureau meeting to be held on 27 November. Following the practice of the ad hoc open-ended expert group (OEWG) meeting held in Dakar from 30 May to 1 June, the INC will be a hybrid meeting.
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UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) - 7 - 19 December , 2022 in Montreal, Canada
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LATEST COASTAL & MARINE NEWS
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Sustainable marine tourism is receiving a major boost with the launch of the Green Fins Hub, a global digital platform for diving and snorkelling operators worldwide. The industry-backed digital platform is expected to scale up reach from about 700 operators across 14 countries today to a potential 30,000 worldwide, thus increasing coral protection and conservation worldwide.
The Green Fins Hub is the first-ever global marine tourism industry platform, helping operators to make simple, cost-efficient changes to their daily practices by utilising tried and tested solutions, keep track of their annual improvements and communicate with their communities and customers. The tool has been developed by The Reef-World Foundation in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to overcome the biggest sustainability challenges in the marine conservation tourism industry. Read More>>
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The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has signed a partnership agreement with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The agreement will help promote sustainable maritime transport through a range of capacity-building and knowledge partnership activities in the Asia-Pacific region.Read More>>
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Speaking at the opening of Climate Week New York City, the new Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, Simon Stiell, described the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh in November as “the world’s first opportunity in the era of implementation of the Paris Agreement to demonstrate progress”. Read More >>
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Heat waves are reshaping life in the Mediterranean, with few of the sea’s coves, bays and shorelines untouched, according to a recent study looking at the impact of marine heat waves between 2015 and 2019. Surging sea surface temperatures, at times up to 5° Celsius (9° Fahrenheit) above normal and driven by climate change, triggered “unprecedented” die-offs among dozens of species in each of the five years of the study period, the authors reported July 18 in the journal Global Change Biology. Read More>>
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We risk losing 75% to 90% of the remaining coral reefs. Our window of opportunity for saving the corals is rapidly closing and we need innovative technical solutions and large scale wide interventions. The G20 Coral Research & Development Accelerator Platform (CORDAP) has launched its first funded call for proposals to make an impact in filling the gap between current and required capabilities to save the corals.. Read More>>
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The resumed 18th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) closed with environment ministers from 54 African countries adopting a series of decisions and key messages to tackle climate change, the loss of nature, pollution and waste, including the elimination of open dumping and burning of waste. The conference took place from 12 to 16 September 2022 in Dakar, Senegal. The President of AMCEN and Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Senegal, H.E Abdou Karim Sall, emphasised that the session comes in the wake of a regional health, food, energy and financial crisis that particularly impacts Africa, denoting urgency to the conference’s theme of “securing people’s well-being and ensuring environmental sustainability in Africa.” Read More>>
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Nearly all of the 48 most populous coastal cities have areas sinking more rapidly than seas are rising. Globally, sea levels are rising about 3.7 millimetres a year on average, much of which is from melting ice driven by climate change. In many places, land is also sinking due to groundwater pumping, oil and gas extraction and sediment compacted by heavy buildings – a process called land subsidence.Cheryl Tay at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and colleagues used radar from satellites to measure rates of subsidence within the world’s 48 most populous coastal cities between 2014 and 2020. Read More>>
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A blanket of multi-colored plastic waste flowing in from tributaries covers Lake Suchitlan in El Salvador. It is a sorry scene that has also become an all too common sight on the Caribbean beaches of Honduras, where thousands of tons of rubbish arrive from neighboring Guatemala. One of the worst affected areas of the Central American Caribbean coast is the beaches of the Omoa region in Honduras.It is a beautiful coastline with abundant vegetation and palm trees, some 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of Tegucigalpa.But in some places the sand is almost entirely covered with plastic waste of all sorts, including syringes. Read More>>
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A team of researchers from the Arabian Center for Climate and Environmental Sciences (ACCESS) at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) studied the evolution of dissolved oxygen in the Arabian Gulf over three decades and discovered a significant decline in oxygen concentrations and the expansion of the seasonal near-bottom hypoxic zone (lower oxygen levels near the bottom of the Gulf in certain seasons). The researchers conclude that changes in local climate are altering the Gulf's physical and biogeochemical environment with potential implications for the ecosystems and the fisheries of the region. Read More>>
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Smoke from a Siberian wildfire may have transported enough nitrogen to parts of the Arctic Ocean to amplify a phytoplankton bloom, according to a new study. The work sheds light on some potential ecological effects from Northern Hemisphere wildfires, particularly as these fires become larger, longer, and more intense. In the summer of 2014, satellite imagery detected a larger than normal algal bloom in the Laptev Sea, located in the Arctic Ocean approximately 850 kilometers (528 miles) south of the North Pole. Read More>>
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Researchers believe they have accurately estimated Antarctica’s Weddell seal population for the first time – using images from space and the eyes of hundreds of thousands of citizen scientists. Weddell seals are a key indicator species in the Southern Ocean, for both sea ice fluctuations and shifts in the food web. They can live up to 30 years in the harsh conditions of the coastal sea ice of Antarctica, but until recently, counting them has been risky and cost-prohibitive. Read More>>
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The IMO-Norway GreenVoyage2050 Project has released an updated version of its popular clause-by-clause analysis of MARPOL Annex VI, which addresses air pollution from ships, in the six official IMO languages. The document provides a breakdown explanation of each regulation and it is intended to be a useful resource for countries seeking to draft legislation to incorporate MARPOL Annex VI into national law.. Read More>>
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The objective of the Regional Seas Strategic Directions 2022-2025 is to achieve a diverse, resilient and pollution-free ocean that supports equitable sustainable livelihoods. This includes climate stability, living in harmony with nature, ocean sustainability and operating within planetary boundaries.
To achieve this objective, three strategic goals are outlined, taking into account current and emerging objectives at the international and regional level.
I. Secure diverse, resilient, and productive marine and coastal ecosystems.
II. Support assessment, information and knowledge management at all levels to strengthen science-policy dialogue on marine and coastal issues and their interactions.
III. Increase reach and mainstreaming of the Regional Seas Programme, including advocacy, political support and dialogue for furthering action.
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LATEST PUBLICATIONS, STUDIES & RESEARCH ARTICLES
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The UNEP Regional Seas Programme (RSP) is UNEP’s most important regional mechanism for conservation of the marine and coastal environment since its establishment in 1974. The Programme aims to address the accelerating degradation of the world’s oceans and coastal areas through a shared approach, by engaging neighbouring countries in comprehensive and specific actions to protect their shared and connected ocean. It is an action-oriented programme that brings together a broad range of stakeholders including governments, scientific communities, intergovernmental organisations, non-governmental organisations, private sector and civil societies, to address ocean-related issues. Today, 146 countries participate in 18 Regional Seas programmes, and most of the programmes have adopted a regional action plan underpinned by a legal framework in the form of a regional convention and associated protocols on specific issues. The Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans outline coordinated actions to address specific environmental concerns.
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If you have any news, events, announcements and publications related to coastal and marine issues that you would like to be included in the weekly newsletter, send us an email on: regionalseas@un.org
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