(NEWS) WMU Hosts Ocean Governance and Protection Joint Meetings with Sargasso Sea Commission

December

2024

WMU Hosts Ocean Governance and Protection Joint Meetings with Sargasso Sea Commission

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From 4-6 December, the World Maritime University (WMU)-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute (GOI) and the Sargasso Sea Commission hosted a series of joint meetings and capacity development seminars at WMU headquarters in Malmö, Sweden. The event included distinguished special lectures on the topics of ocean sustainability, governance and protection of the marine environment. Professor Maximo Q. Mejia Jr, WMU President, met with the delegation and congratulated the Commission on their achievements, inviting future collaboration on matters of common interest.

The joint event commenced with project meetings for the Sargasso Sea Commission Global Environment Facility (GEF) project, of which WMU is a partner, on “Strengthening the Stewardship of an Economically and Biologically Significant High Seas Area – the Sargasso Sea". Discussions included review of the Socio-Ecosystem Diagnostic Analysis (SEDA), as well as a Steering Committee Review. The distinguished commissioners, invited experts, and observers discussed the agenda points on SEDA and the Strategic Action Plan. Professor David Freestone, Executive Secretary of the Sargasso Sea Commission noted the importance of formalizing conservation and governance measures for the Sargasso Sea, and the alignment with the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement). In addition to Professor Freestone, distinguished guests included HE Ambassador Ron Pinder, Ambassador-at-large of the Bahamas as well as Honorable William P. Moore, Former Canadian Senator.

The WMU-GOI hosted an informative session on the final day titled “Future Ocean - How to combat the triple planetary crisis?”, that included the four pillars of the Future Ocean Programme (FOP). WMU Principal Investigators Dr. Zhen Sun, Dr. Aleke Stöfen-O’Brien, Dr. Aspasia Pastra and Dr. Ríán Derrig presented the work carried out to date on topics related to Regimes & Institutional Interactions, Non-state Actors, Co-designing a Blueprint for Ocean Observation Technologies and the Future of Ocean Governance.

The event concluded with a webinar as part of the distinguished lecture series titled “Ocean Governance, liability and the Sargasso Sea”. An international audience of onsite and online ocean professionals attended the lecture by Professor Måns Jacobsson on “Liability for damage to the marine environment in private and public law”, as well as a capacity development presentation by Professor Freestone and Ms Fae Sapsford entitled “Story about the Sargasso Sea Commission and contributions to the World Ocean Assessment III”.

The Future Ocean Programme is funded by The Nippon Foundation and aims to generate knowledge and understanding of how law, political science, and public policy are used to effect change in humanity’s relationship with the ocean to combat the triple planetary crisis of biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution. To learn more about the Programme as well as access the post-event material and presentations for the webinar please contact goisecretariat@wmu.se and cc to goievents@wmu.se

About the World Maritime University
The World Maritime University (WMU) in Malmö, Sweden is established within the framework of the International Maritime Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations. The mission of WMU is to be the world centre of excellence in postgraduate maritime and oceans education, professional training and research, while building global capacity and promoting sustainable development. WMU is an organization by and for the international maritime community and is committed to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development..

About the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute
The World Maritime University (WMU)-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute (GOI) is an independent focal point for the ocean science-policy-law-industry-society interface where policymakers, the scientific community, regulators, industry actors, academics, and representatives of civil society meet to discuss how best to manage and use ocean spaces and their resources in accordance with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Institute was inaugurated in May 2018 and made possible through generous support from The Nippon Foundation of Japan, the Governments of Sweden, Canada, and Germany, as well as the City of Malmö.

About the Sargasso Sea Commission

The Sargasso Sea Commission (SSC) was founded after the signing of the Hamilton Convention on the Conservation of the Sargasso Sea in Bermuda in 2014 and to date consists of ten government signatories as well as other supporting nations such as the Netherlands, Sweden, South Africa and France. Currently, the area of collaboration for the SSC consists of 2,000,000 sq miles and is governed by the high seas governance system under the law of the sea and international law. A large focus of the SSC is to collect data using modern technological inventions and AI, by which it aims to monitor and track human activity in the area and how it affects the unique marine environment of the area as well as its marine life.

The Commission strives to achieve its objectives of:

Partnerships and organisational infrastructure;
Improved knowledge base to support a collaborative, adaptive ecosystem-based stewardship approach;
Development of a Strategic Action Programme for addressing threats and strengthening the stewardship;
Knowledge management, monitoring and evaluation.

Through this, the Commission aims to strengthen the stewardship of the economically and biologically significant high seas area.

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