Summit commits to concrete actions to turn around ocean health and secure food security for millions of people
25 April 2014, The Hague – A summit that brought together more than 600 ocean stakeholders – including 80 ministers from across the world, ocean science experts, business leaders, philanthropists and heads of international organizations – committed to a set of concrete actions responding to the urgency for restoring productive, resilient oceans that drive broad-based blue growth and deliver food security.
A joint initiative of the Government of the Netherlands, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Bank, the Global Oceans Action Summit for Blue Growth and Food Security found unprecedented convergence around the urgent steps needed to tackle the key threats to the world’s oceans: climate change, overfishing, habitat loss and pollution.
Actions focused specifically on improving governance, enhancing sustainable financing, building partnerships for action and sharing knowledge on successful solution implementation.
The summit called for:
Strengthening the mandate of Regional Fisheries Management Organisations and their financing and accelerating ratification of agreed mechanisms for improved fisheries practices, better conservation and less pollution, including the Port State Measures Agreement
The Chair of the summit, Sharon Dijksma, Minister for Agriculture of the Netherlands, said: “This week the world community has shown courage and boldness in The Hague to move ahead and take action on ocean health and food security. What’s needed now is decisive action from the international community to put solutions into practice.”
Árni M. Mathiesen, FAO Assistant Director-General for Fisheries and Aquaculture, said: “This summit has put an accent on action and the route to navigate on oceans, fisheries management and aquaculture is much clearer than before.”
World Bank representative Valerie Hickey said: “This summit has presented the way forward for a new type of growth – blue growth which is sustainable, equitable and takes the value of the ocean’s ecosystem services into account. Together, we can restore ocean health at the speed and scale necessary to drive broad-based blue growth, secure food security and turn down the heat on climate change. We have the set of actions needed – let’s move on them now.”
More than 10 new commitments for cross-boundary partnering announced at the summit included: