[Column written by Patrice Horner]
“Elevate the ambition to save the oceans” emphasized Ambassador Peter Thomson, United Nations Special Envoy for the Oceans. The think tanks around the world need to collaborate on the Sustainable Development Goal for Life Below Water [SDG14] ahead of the UN General Assembly [UNGA] next September 2027. The 4th Ocean Conference to then be held in June 2028 will be the last opportunity to present a concerted voice. Specific Ocean Targets in the National Defined Contributions [NCDs] are to be updated in the 2028 ‘retake’ to goals.
The Beyond 2030 session was held during the 2026 New York Climate Week. As momentum builds towards UNFCCC COP31 in Antalya, New York Climate Week will be a key moment for advancing the ocean and climate agenda ahead of the UNFCCC climate negotiations.
Vladimir Jares Director of the UN Division of Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea Office of Legal Affairs explained that “the ocean is the receipt of all the nasty things going on in the World”. The Third World Ocean Assessment [WOA III] is a must read. Share the knowledge on the ocean | World Ocean Assessment. Whereas we are creating national ocean accounts they need to be combined into an international account. The ocean knows no boundaries.
Jamaica has been a leader in the space. There is a Blue Economy Working Group in Jamaica works on sustainable economic activities that utilize the island’s marine resources along with considering social inclusion and personal livelihoods. Their Our Ocean 2029 summit closes the loop historic signing of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea [UNCLOS] in Montego Bay in 1982, followed by the establishment of with the Ocean Seabed Authority [ISA] in Kingston. ISA is responsible for regulating activities related to mineral resources in the deep seabed and protecting the marine environment.
The High Seas Treaty, known as the marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction [BBNJ] was adopted on 19 June 2023 and entered into force on 17 January 2026. It is an agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea [UNCLOS]. The UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea [DOALOS] will serve as the interim Secretariat. The first meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the BBNJ Agreement will take place from 11 to 22 January 2027 at UN Headquarters in New York.
Ocean, Capital & Carbon
The Ocean is suffering from the onslaught of green house gases and temperature rises. There is an upswell of radical innovation. A New Week Climate Week session explored a new approach to capture the carbon that has been absorbed by the ocean and sink it to the ocean floor. GigaBlue hosted the discussion with Leaders with a Purpose on ‘What would it take for the ocean to recognized, financed, and governed as a critical infrastructure..?’ It developed a microalgae carbon fixation and sinking for carbon sequestration using biogeochemistry. GigaBlue has been operating beta testing a Marine carbon removal MCR approach in the South Pacific. GigaBlue Katapult Ocean
MCR is a developing market. GigaBlue has created a scientific roadmap and update on the project in the Pacific. They are using ‘biotics’ for quantifiable ZT sequestration. ZT is a ‘Thermoelectric Figure of Merit’ used to evaluate the efficiency of thermoelectric materials in converting heat into electrical energy. The process started four [4] years ago to reverse negative impacts in the ocean. They have created a proprietary marine carbon removal methodology.
‘The Ocean IS the reality,’ stressed Ori Shaashua Co-Founder & COO of Gigablue. There has been limited testing in the open ocean in closed loops since 2024. They were reviewing methodology and soliciting feedback with ocean experts. The scientists note that the ocean does sequestration naturally in what is call ‘snow’, which stays in the lower ocean for centuries. Carbon testing of the seabed is problematic. A variety of detection methods are being considered. A spill over effect into other ocean systems is possible with MCR, since the ocean is not ‘monolithic’ or the same throughout. With a controlled sequestration, there maybe a measurable value for carbon credits.
Sturla Henriksend, Author TheBooksellers.com
“You can see the ocean is deteriorating rapidly,” emphasized attendee Sturla Henriksend, Chair of Ocean Security Dialogues, former UN Special Ocean Advisor and author of ‘The Ocean: How it Has Formed Our World. He asks , ‘How can projects be scaled as a whole economy?’ We must rapidly improve ocean knowledge with politics and policy makers, as well as corporate and public. Profits and regulations are the levers for commercial enterprises. They also need to factor in the externalities and their impact. There have been significant Mangrove Breakthroughs around ports with demonstrated benefits. Ocean is largest global commons and aLrules based order is appropriate. The Law of the Seas should prevail.
- Patrice Horner
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Category: All, Environment