Ocean currents do not stop at national boundaries, and the threats facing our marine habitats are far bigger than any one government or leader can tackle alone.
The lack of focus on ocean governance at a multinational level enables unsustainable exploitation of marine resources around the world. In fact, development decisions made by governments rarely consider ocean health or the importance of marine resources to people's livelihoods and future food, climate and health security.
That's why CI is working to develop coordinated plans at the oceanscape scale: to address threats and maximize opportunities in a coordinated manner that achieves new regulations and protections across broad swaths of biologically and economically important sea.
The Goals:
- Advance government leadership and action for improving ocean governance and health – particularly in the Coral Triangle and the Central Pacific
- Improve ocean governance and health at a significant regional level
Why It's Needed
Achieving ocean stewardship at a regional scale is the only path to ocean remediation and sustainability. Regional stewardship cannot be achieved without concerted government leadership and action, especially through the creation of new seascapes and other innovative policies.
Demonstrating government leadership and effective top-down models that strengthen ocean governance and health at the regional level will inspire replication by governments and leaders in other regions.
Regional Ocean Stewarship and Human Well-Being
If select regions of the world demonstrate leadership and effectiveness in improving ocean health, then government leaders are more likely to take action and to replicate successful approaches for improving ocean health in their country’s waters.
What It Will Do
Advancing leadership and action for regional ocean stewardship will improve ocean health, increase government funding for ocean conservation, and make governments more willing to factor ocean conservation into decisions regarding economic development. Government leaders and multilateral donor institutions (such as the World Bank) will be able to replicate successful models in other regions around the world.
The Strategy
Already, CI is working closely with the heads of state and six governments in the Coral Triangle region – the epicenter of global coral reef diversity where more than 100 million people depend on the ocean for food and livelihoods. The six countries have signed an agreement to sustain coral reefs, fisheries and food security.
In similar fashion, but at a larger scale, CI is now working closely with the regional agencies and governments of 15 Pacific Island countries in an unprecedented effort to improve ocean health. At the
Pacific Islands Leaders Forum in August 2009, Kiribati called ocean conservation and management the preeminent issue of our time and announced an initiative to create a Pacific 'Oceanscape.' The Pacific
Oceanscape Framework was subsequently designed, and was endorsed and launched at the 2010 Pacific Island Leaders Forum.
Governments in the Coral Triangle and the Central Pacific consider CI a trusted advisor and have requested ocean conservation and capacity-building assistance. To adequately respond to these requests, CI will build teams of local and international experts that will work with the Coral Triangle and Pacific nation governments to improve their policies for effective ocean governance and their abilities to implement those changes. CI will also engage with international agencies to obtain the financial resources necessary for success.