In response to an urgent need for effective regional ocean governance, the Sustainable Ocean Initiative (SOI) was established at the margins of COP 10, through the leadership of Japan, COP 10 Presidency, and in collaboration with various intergovernmental and nation partners willing to provide the necessary support to this global initiative through exchanges and joint actions in the field of relevant expertise, technical and financial resources. The SOI concept was further developed in several follow up meetings, such as the SOI Programme Development Meeting (2-4 August 2011, Kanazawa, Japan) and SOI High-level Meeting (5 June 2012, Yeosu, RO Korea).
This virtual workshop was organised within the framework of SOI and its strategic objectives as set by the first and second meetings of the SOI Dialogue platform[1], convened by the Secretariat of the Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD), from 26 to 28 September 2016 and from 10 to 13 April 2018, respectively, as the enhancing the cross-sectoral collaboration among the key regional inter-governmental mechanisms and bodies in the sustainable Regional Ocean Governance (ROG), notably: the UNEP-coordinated Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans (RSOAP) and Regional Fisheries Bodies (RFBs). It is critical to further strengthen their roles in supporting national implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 towards achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
More details on SOI and its Global Dialogue workshops can be found on: https://www.cbd.int/soi/.
The main topics discussed at the virtual meeting on 29 September–1 October included latest updates on the status of regional-scale coordination and collaboration, impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on regional-scale coordination and collaboration, roles of, and opportunities for, regional organisations and regional collaboration in the development and implementation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, as well detailed discussion on the next steps.
One of the workshop's highlights was the presentation of and detailed discussions on the future opportunities for regional collaboration in the targets of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. A briefing Note could be downloaded from:
https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/dc92/0918/ff1dcd81f3aed825f1623616/briefing-note-soi-2021-01-en.pdf.
NOWPAP was represented by RCU and directly contributed to the meeting by delivering a joint presentation on behalf of the North(west) Pacific inter-governmental organisations (NOWPAP, PICES, and NPAFC) and though inputs into various discussions held during the workshop. It has been specifically emphasised that:
The regional inter-governmental organisations in the North(western) Pacific region continue being committed and supporting efforts to strengthen regional cooperation through the existing collaborative frameworks, joint assessments, focused working groups, contributing to each other’s events, joint activities. Also, the regional bodies fully support efforts and initiatives of their Member States through the engagement in the global environmental agenda, in particular: SDGs, Post-2020 Biodiversity framework, UN Decades on Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2031) and Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2031), global initiatives on global mechanisms/agreement on marine litter, "Osaka Blue Ocean Vision", others.
It has been stressed that the key focus also remains put on assisting the Member Countries in joint actions on various issues of environmental conservation, including capacity building, public education and awareness campaigns, as well as though participation in global networks as regional hubs (e.g., the Northwest Pacific Regional Node of GPML). Among other priorities, inter-regional cooperation and science-policy dialogue have also been mentioned.
The full set of documents and proposed targets/indicators can be found on: https://www.cbd.int/meetings/SOI-WS-2021-01.
[1] The first meeting was held with financial support from the Government of Korea, the Government of Japan, and the European Commission. The second meeting was financially supported by the Government of Korea, the Government of Japan, the Government of Sweden and the European Union.
