{"id":48174,"date":"2021-06-17T16:25:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T16:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev6.blazedream.in\/ICSF\/samudra\/an-important-platform"},"modified":"2021-08-23T03:06:41","modified_gmt":"2021-08-23T03:06:41","slug":"an-important-platform","status":"publish","type":"samudra","link":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/samudra\/an-important-platform\/","title":{"rendered":"An Important Platform"},"content":{"rendered":"

CBD \/ OCEANS<\/p>\n

An Important Platform<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Sustainable Ocean Initiative of the Convention on Biological Diversity will help improve the health and resilience of oceans in the longer term<\/strong><\/p>\n

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This article has been prepared by the CBD Secretariat<\/strong> and Marjo Vierros Vierros<\/strong> (vierros@unu.edu<\/a>) of the UN University<\/em><\/p>\n

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The Sustainable Ocean Initiative (SOI) was born at the margins of the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2010. The initiative aims to build partnerships to enhance capacity to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets on marine and coastal biodiversity.<\/p>\n

The SOI Global Partnership meeting took place during 3-4 October 2014 in Seoul, Republic of Korea. It was organized by the Korea Maritime Institute and the CBD Secretariat, and hosted and sponsored by the Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea.<\/p>\n

Along with the SOI High-Level Meeting, held on 16 October in Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea, as a parallel session of the High-Level Segment of the 12th meeting of COP 12, these were important steps in the evolution of SOI, outlining an action plan to achieve the vision of SOI and building political support to address major capacity gaps to achieve the Aichi Targets.<\/p>\n

The Aichi Targets, adopted by the CBD COP in 2010, lay out an ambitious agenda to reverse global biodiversity loss, including for marine and coastal biodiversity. In order to achieve these targets, there is an urgent need to enhance the capacity of countries to improve on-the-ground implementation.<\/p>\n

SOI, which is co-ordinated by the CBD Secretariat, aims to address this need by providing a holistic and strategic framework through which to address capacity-development needs of countries to improve the conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity. It builds on existing efforts, resources and experiences, in an integrated and holistic manner, by enhancing partnerships, building on lessons learned and knowledge gained, and facilitating improved co-ordination among sectors and stakeholder groups and across multiple scales in order to meet regional and national priorities for capacity building.<\/p>\n

The core strength of SOI is its wide range of partners. SOI partners comprise various global, regional or national institutions\/programmes\/initiatives who share the vision of SOI and contribute in different ways to its mission. The SOI Global Partnership Meeting brought together a range of experts to share perspectives on major capacity needs in different regions and to develop an action plan for SOI to address these needs through targeted capacity-development activities.<\/p>\n

Marine biodiversity<\/strong><\/p>\n

The meeting gathered experts from different regions to discuss key challenges and barriers related to sustainable management of marine biodiversity, major capacity needs in various regions (for example, access to data, technical expertise in using data to inform management, guidance on tools and approaches to improve management), ongoing capacity-development efforts at different scales and opportunities to address capacity-development needs by building on existing efforts and resources through partnerships, exchange and dialogue.<\/p>\n

The meeting began with a series of stage-setting presentations and general discussions focused on outlining experiences and opportunities in different regions. Participants discussed the need to understand and appreciate the broad range of ecosystem services derived from marine biodiversity, and the importance of these services in demonstrating the value of biodiversity to people. The importance of cultural and traditional ecosystem services was also highlighted, along with the need to include indigenous peoples and local communities.<\/p>\n

Participants then focused on the key elements of an action plan for implementing SOI from 2015 to 2020. The discussions focused on key thematic areas, including enhancing co-ordination and synergies at the global level, region-based capacity-building approaches, facilitating regional and national implementation and information sharing and learning exchange. Within these focal areas, the participants discussed practical ways to focus SOI activities and means to build upon existing resources and capacity-development efforts to increase on-the-ground impact.<\/p>\n

The discussions on the action plan highlighted the need to collaborate with existing initiatives and tap into existing networks. Creating synergies globally and regionally was seen to be important in order to build on achievements and avoid duplication of effort. The need to strengthen and interlink regional efforts and support local implementation was also highlighted.<\/p>\n

Information sharing, including through online platforms, was seen as an essential component of the process to improve exchange and monitor progress. Longer-term sustainability of SOI capacity-building efforts was also discussed, and ideas to maintain sustainability included incorporating SOI efforts into the work of regional learning centres as well as universities and higher learning programmes.<\/p>\n

Through these discussions, the workshop participants finalized the SOI Action Plan 2015-2020, which will serve as a strategic roadmap for SOI activities until 2020. The plan outlines activities within the following key elements:<\/p>\n