OA Alliance Hosts NE Atlantic Workshop for Policy Makers
OA Alliance Hosts NE Atlantic Workshop for Policy Makers
National Strategies for Implementing Climate Ocean Action
By Madison Onsager, OA Alliance policy team
As our global community emerges from the Covid-19 Pandemic, an increasing number of high-level governmental pledges have been made to reach net zero by 2050 and improve targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions. Though we face daunting and intersecting challenges, global leaders have understood that ambitious climate action is foundational to meeting universal recovery and resiliency priorities. This emphasis on climate action in 2021 represents a renewed and encouraging effort to achieve or surpass the targets set forth by the Paris Climate Agreement made through the UNFCCC and implement UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Life Below Water) — both of which are necessary to maintain habitable, productive, and sustainable ocean resources and coastal communities.
While high-level commitments are a critical part of outlining shared goals and priorities, pledges don’t often account for the specific implementation pathways that will help national and subnational governments define concrete actions, baselines, and strategies for achieving them. Effective climate ocean action requires an improved understanding of regional risk and vulnerability, along with targeted monitoring to inform impactful mitigation and adaptation interventions.
UN SDG 14.3.1 seeks to minimize and address ocean acidification by establishing standard indicators for OA monitoring and reporting at the regional and local levels. This uniquely important policy seeks to protect ocean-based food resources, the ocean economy, and marine biodiversity from the impacts of climate ocean change. Because ocean acidification is a global issue which creates impacts at regional and local levels, coordination and information sharing is a critical component of successful monitoring, mitigation, and adaptation efforts.
To support national governments in implementing UN SDG 14.3.1 and creating OA Action Plans, the OA Alliance convened a workshop on April 28, 2021, examining the state of OA knowledge and available policy frameworks for OA action in the NE Atlantic region. The workshop convened more than 60 scientists and policy makers from 14 countries to share strategies for monitoring ocean and coastal acidification trends, assess impacts to marine ecosystems, industries and communities, and discuss development management responses.
Ambassador Helen Agren, Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sweden, opened the workshop describing the need for operationalizing the climate-ocean nexus at the national level and the significance of ensuring the UN SDG 14 targets are met. Stressing the ocean’s role in sustaining human life and the climate system, she urged that the UN Decade of Ocean Science be utilized as a critical opportunity to advance and raise awareness of climate ocean issues that are currently under-researched and to increase coordination for regional resilience building strategies. Calling forward the need for policy integration across climate and ocean change, she noted: “It is of utmost importance to pursue a holistic approach, and in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic we need to build back both greener and bluer.”
Assessing opportunities for enhancing integrated governance, Dr. Charles Galdies (Division of Environmental Management and Planning within the Institute of Earth Systems at the University of Malta) presented a publication which revealed the scarcity of national policies and legislation directly addressing OA within the EU. The study recommended that EU countries approach OA action with the aim of creating comprehensive and integrated management plans that account for, study and outline local intervention strategies to address ocean and coastal acidification across existing climate and marine policies. While the Netherlands has a stand-alone OA Action Plan as called for by the OA Alliance, many EU governments could utilize the existing Marine Strategy Framework Directive to identify and report on the state of OA monitoring, coastal trends and research being done at the national level.
Examples of innovative and cooperative OA action included Canada’s shared coastal monitoring framework with the United States government and annual reporting on UN SDG 14.3.1. Additionally, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada has produced videos and infographics to improve OA understanding and communication internally across applicable resource management programs and externally across community members and stakeholders. The Canadian Community of Practice on OA, supported by the Marine Environmental Observation Prediction and Response (MEOPAR) Network in partnership with the University of Calgary, has established three regional hubs with the goal of improving the state of OA knowledge and engaging local governments, industry partners, First Nations and indigenous communities on the most important research priorities that will inform local adaptation strategies for vulnerable species and places.
Another inspiring initiative comes from the Norwegian Institute for Water Research, which is developing stakeholder relevant, targeted OA science collaborations to inform coastal management. The ACIDCOAST Project established baseline conditions for ocean and coastal acidification along southern and northern Norwegian coastal areas, improved modeling to evaluate ecosystem response under future climate change scenarios, and developed a stakeholder outreach method to identify local priorities and conflicts of interest around coastal zone planning.
Throughout the workshop, regional scientific collaboration was repeatedly highlighted as a foundational component of national level OA Action Planning. Regional monitoring networks like the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON) NE Atlantic Hub and OSPAR Commission are key platforms for enabling multinational scientific coordination that can yield location specific baselines, identify vulnerable species, and inform the most impactful local response strategies. National governments can rely on regional platforms for localized data and information as development of OA policy and management grows over the next decade.
Moving forward, it’s possible for policymakers from the NE Atlantic region to lead on integrative approaches to OA mitigation and resiliency building. “OA Action Plans” as called for by the OA Alliance provide a framework for governments which include components related to greenhouse gas emissions reductions; managing pollutions that exacerbate coastal acidification like excess nutrient contributions through wastewater, stormwater and agricultural runoff; advancing science, monitoring and research related to understanding local conditions and vulnerabilities; annual reporting on UN SDG 14.3.1; and exploring local interventions like those achieved through nature-based solutions.
The OA Alliance looks forward to sharing examples and offering assistance for developing these important policy and management responses. The upcoming COP26, UN Ocean Conference 2022, and UN Decade of Ocean Science are excellent venues to continue the work of building back both green and blue, keeping up ambition for climate action and increasing capacity that will serve our coastal communities and global family in the decade to come.
