Lisbon Declaration

All 198 members of the United Nations unanimously adopted July 1, 2022 the Lisbon Declaration on ocean conservation.

The ocean covers 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, is the planet's largest biosphere, and is home to up to 80 percent of all life in the world.
It generates 50 percent of the oxygen we need, absorbs 25 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions and captures 90 percent of the additional heat generated from those emissions.
It is not just ‘the lungs of the planet’ but also its largest carbon sink - a vital buffer against the impacts of climate change.
It nurtures unimaginable biodiversity and produces food, jobs, mineral and energy resources needed for life on the planet to survive and thrive.
Recently, more than 6,000 participants, including 24 Heads of State and Government, and over 2,000 representatives of civil society, met in Lisbon for the United Nations Ocean Conference, co-hosted by the Governments of Portugal and Kenya.

Lisbon Declaration

Protecting at least 30% of national maritime zones by 2030
Achieving carbon neutrality by 2040
Allocating funds to research on ocean acidification, climate resilience and surveillance
Scale-up Science-based and innovative actions to address ocean emergency
Support implementation of SDG14 (life below water) by empowering women and girls- recognising their participation is crucial to building a sustainable ocean-based economy
Protect biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, which lie outside the 200-mile (322-kilometre) exclusive economic zones of countries.
India:
- Will take up the Coastal clean sea campaign (‘Swachh Sagar, Surakshit Sagar’.)
- Ban on single-use plastics
Participants at the conference also agreed to work on preventing, reducing and controlling marine pollution. It includes:
- Nutrient pollution
- Untreated wastewater
- Solid waste discharges
- Hazardous substances
- Emissions from the maritime sector, including shipping, shipwrecks
- Anthropogenic underwater noise
Other pledges include developing and promoting innovative financing solutions to help create sustainable ocean-based economies as well as expanding nature-based solutions to help conserve and preserve coastal communities.

UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021 – 2030:

A vast majority of the ocean remains unmapped, unobserved and unexplored.
Our understanding of the ocean and its contribution to sustainability largely depends on our capacity to conduct effective ocean science - through research and sustained observations, supported by adequate infrastructures and investments.
The Decade provides a common framework to ensure that ocean science can fully support countries’ actions to sustainably manage the ocean and more particularly to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – through the creation of a new foundation, across the science-policy interface, to strengthen the management of the ocean and coasts for the benefit of humanity.