Global Civil Society & the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources

Life Below Water


Goal 14 is about conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources. Healthy oceans and seas are essential to human existence and life on Earth.

The Ocean is intrinsic to our life on earth. Covering three-quarters of the Earth’s surface, contain 97 percent of the Earth’s water, and represent 99 percent of the living space on the planet by volume.

They provide key natural resources including food, medicines, biofuels and other products; help with the breakdown and removal of waste and pollution; and their coastal ecosystems act as buffers to reduce damage from storms. They also act as the planet’s greatest carbon sink.

Worryingly, marine pollution is reaching extreme levels, with over 17 million metric tons clogging the ocean in 2021, a figure set to double or triple by 2040. Plastic is the most harmful type of ocean pollution.

Currently, the ocean’s average pH is 8.1 which is about 30 per cent more acidic than in pre- industrial times. Ocean acidification threatens the survival of marine life, disrupts the food web, and undermines vital services provided by the ocean and our own food security.

Careful management of this essential global resource is a key feature of a sustainable future. This includes increasing funding for ocean science, intensifying conservation efforts, and urgently turning the tide on climate change to safeguard the planet’s largest ecosystem. Current efforts to protect are not yet meeting the urgent need to safeguard this vast, yet fragile, resource.

Name Acronym Founded City HQ Country/Territory HQ Type I Type II

Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment

SEA 2003 Geneva Switzerland T g

Protocol on the Control of Marine Transboundary Movements and Disposal of Hazardous Wastes

1998 T g

Protocol on the Prevention of Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal

1996 Athens Greece T g

Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Seabed Authority

1998 T g

Protocol on the Protection of the Black Sea Marine Environment Against Pollution by Dumping

1992 Istanbul Türkiye T g

Protocol on Water and Health to the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes

1999 Geneva Switzerland T g

Protocol on Wildlife Conservation and Law Enforcement

1999 T g

Protocol Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Marine Pollution by Substances other Than Oil

INTERVENTION PROT 1973 1973 London UK T g

Protocol to Amend the 1910 Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules of Law Relating to Assistance and Salvage at Sea

1967 T g

Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty on Environmental Protection

1991 T g

Protocol to the Athens Convention Relating to the Carriage of Passengers and Their Luggage by Sea, 1976

1976 London UK T g

Protocol to the Athens Convention Relating to the Carriage of Passengers and Their Luggage by Sea, 1990

1990 London UK T g

Protocol to the Athens Convention Relating to the Carriage of Passengers and Their Luggage by Sea, 2002

2002 London UK T g

Protocol to the Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on Fishing and Conservation of Living Resources in the Baltic Sea and the Belts

1982 T g

Protocol to the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling

1956 T g

Protocol to the Treaties Concerning the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf under the North Sea

1971 T g

Provisional Agreement Respecting the Whangpoo Conservancy

1912 T g

Provisional Understanding Regarding Deep Seabed Matters

1984 T g

Pure Earth

1999 New York NY USA F j

Purple Martin Conservation Association

1986 Erie PA USA N

Quaker Earthcare Witness

QEW 1987 Albany CA USA G

Race for Water Foundation

2010 Lausanne Switzerland G f

Radiant Earth Foundation

Washington DC USA G f

Rainbow Warriors International

RWI 1995 Oranjestad Aruba E

Rainforest Alliance

1987 New York NY USA C

Rainforest Foundation UK

RFUK London UK G f

Rare

1973 Arlington VA USA G

Raymond Lemaire International Centre for the Conservation of Historic Towns and Buildings

RLICC 1976 Leuven Belgium G

Re:wild

Austin TX USA G

Red de Fondos Ambientales de Latinoamérica y el Caribe

RedLAC 1999 Santa Tecla El Salvador F y

Red de Instituciones Vinculadas a la Capacitación en Economia y Politicas Agricolas en América Latina y el Caribe

REDCAPA 1993 Rio de Janeiro Brazil F

Red Iberoamericana de Ciclo de Vida

E

Red Iberoamericana de Comités MAB y Reservas de la Biósfera

IberoMAB 1993 Paris France F

Red Internacional de Escritores por la Tierra

TIER 2005 Tarragona Spain E v

Red Latinoamericana Contra Represas y por los Rios, sus Comunidades y el Agua

REDLAR 2002 F

Red Latinoamericana para el Análisis de la Calidad Ambiental en América Latina

RACAL 1990 F

Red Panda Network

RPN 2007 Eugene OR USA F

REFORME

1986 Ribera de Arriba Spain F

ReGeneration 2030

Mariehamn Finland F

Regeneration International

2015 Finland MN USA F

Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development

RCMRD 1975 Nairobi Kenya E g

Regional Clean Sea Organization

RECSO 1972 Dubai United Arab Emirates D

Regional Commission for Fisheries

RECOFI 1999 Cairo Egypt E gy

Regional Conference on Migration

RCM 1996 San José Costa Rica E g

Regional Convention for the Management and Conservation of the Natural Forest Ecosystems and the Development of Forest Plantations

1993 T g

Regional Convention on Fisheries Cooperation among African States Bordering the Atlantic Ocean

1991 Rome Italy T g

Regional Energy Resources Information Center

RERIC 1978 Pathum Thani Thailand E y

Regional Environmental Centre for Central and Eastern Europe

REC 1990 Szentendre Hungary E g

Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia

CAREC 1998 Almaty Kazakhstan G

Regional Environmental Centre for the Caucasus

REC Caucasus 2000 Tbilisi Georgia E gy

Pages