All eyes are on the United Nations Headquarters in New York as the High-level General Assembly Week (UNGA) has just kicked off. This year, the UN is hosting a series of five high©\level summits to move forward the organization¡¯s sustainable development agenda under the umbrella ¡°Action for People and Planet.¡±? This ¡°Global Goals Week¡± also marks the four-year anniversary of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals and comes just after Hurricane Dorian pummeled the Bahamas, raising questions? about the role of climate change in producing more intense and slower©\moving hurricanes that stall over the ocean.
Most of this year¡¯s UNGA summits have a link to the ocean and SDG 14 to conserve and sustainably use? the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development: the Secretary©\General¡¯s Climate? Action Summit (23 September), the SDG Summit (24©\25 September), the High©\level Dialogue on? Financing for Development (26 September) and the High©\level Midterm Review of the Samoa Pathway,? the framework to support sustainable development in small island developing States (27 September).
Each of these summits is expected to launch new efforts and initiatives from governments, businesses? and civil society to speed up implementation of the SDGs.? In particular, one of the action areas at the Climate Action Summit was focused on nature©\based solutions.
Actions on terrestrial ecosystems, fresh water systems, ocean systems and sustainable food systems are? essential for reaching the goals described in the Paris Agreement and achieving carbon net zero by 2050.? The co©\leading countries supporting this track, China and New Zealand, have been tasked with soliciting? initiatives related to increasing resilience and carbon sequestration in marine and coastal ecosystems,? and enhancing adaptation for marine and coastal communities.
Moving to the SDG Summit, one of that event¡¯s outcomes is a new registry of voluntary SDG? Acceleration Actions meant to show urgent innovative, ambitious and impactful implementation of the? SDGs. More than 50 actions already are available for browsing on the registry, with 12 of those related? to SDG 14. New financing commitments for ocean conservation and ocean©\related partnerships for small? island developing States are also expected throughout the week.
Furthermore, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will release its ¡°Special Report on the? Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate¡± (SROCC) in Monaco on 25 September during the IPCC¡¯s? 51st Session. More than 100 scientists from more than 30 countries are assessing the latest scientific? knowledge about the physical science basis and impacts of climate change on ocean, coastal, polar and? mountain ecosystems, and the human communities that depend on them. Their vulnerabilities as well as adaptation capacities are also evaluated. Options for achieving climate©\resilient development pathways will be presented.
Learn more about the link between the ocean and climate change in our .
Photo: UNDP