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

Regional Fisheries Committee for the Gulf of Guinea

1984 Libreville Gabon E g

Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Information and Training Centre - Wider Caribbean

REMPEITC-Carib 1994 Willemstad Curaçao E g

Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea

REMPEC 1976 Floriana Malta E g

Regional Model Forest Network - Asia

RMFN-Asia 2010 F

Regional Network of Local Authorities for the Management of Human Settlements

CITYNET 1987 Seoul Korea Rep F y

Regional Network of Water-Basin - Organizations from Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia

NWO EECCA 2010 Tashkent Uzbekistan E

Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden

PERSGA 1995 Jeddah Saudi Arabia E g

Regional Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment

ROPME Safat Kuwait D g

Regional Programme of Action for the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment from Land-based Activities

RPA 1998 Oslo Norway E g

Regional Seas Programme

1974 Nairobi Kenya F g

Regional Seas Trust Fund for the Eastern African Region

1985 Nairobi Kenya K fg

Regional Trust Fund for the Implementation of the Action Plan for the Caribbean Environment Programme

1981 Nairobi Kenya K fg

Regions4 Sustainable Development

Regions4 2002 Brussels Belgium F

Regnskogfondet

1989 Oslo Norway G f

Regulatory Assistance Project

RAP 1992 Montpelier VT USA G

Renew the Earth

RTE Albany NY USA G

Research Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Cooperation

INENCO 1989 St Petersburg Russia N

Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth

RITE 1990 Kyoto Japan G

Réseau pour la Qualité de l'Environnement en Afrique Sub-Saharienne

AFRICACLEAN 2002 Dakar Senegal G

Réseau sur les Politiques de Pêche en Afrique de l'Ouest

REPAO 2005 Dakar Senegal F

Resilient40

2019 Kampala Uganda F

RESOLVE

1977 Washington DC USA G

Restauradores Sin Fronteras

A-RSF 1999 San Sebastian de los Reyes Spain F

Restoration Industry Association

RIA 1946 Washington DC USA N t

Restored

2010 Teddington UK G y

RET International

2000 Geneva Switzerland F

REV Ocean

2017 Lysaker Norway G

Revised African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources

2017 T g

Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses

2000 T g

Rewilding Europe

2011 F

Ribbon International

1982 Huntington NY USA G

River Cleanup

2019 Antwerp Belgium G

Rivers without Boundaries

RwB 2009 F

RiverWatch

2011 Vienna Austria G

Rodale Institute

RI 1985 Kutztown PA USA G j

ROPME Sea Area Hydrographic Commission

RSAHC 2000 Muscat Oman E g

Rotary International

RI 1905 Evanston IL USA F

Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research

NIOZ 1876 Den Burg Netherlands G j

Rurality - Environment - Development

RED 1980 Attert Belgium F

Ryan Foundation International

1982 Chennai India G f

SAARC Coastal Zone Management Centre, Maldives

2004 K g

Sacred Earth Trust

2009 G

SADC Plant Genetic Resources Centre

SPGRC 1988 Lusaka Zambia E g

Safe Seaweed Coalition

2021 J y

Safeguard for Agricultural Varieties in Europe

SAVE Foundation 1993 St Gallen Switzerland F f

Safina Center

2003 Setauket NY USA G

SAHARA for Life Trust

Lahore Pakistan G

Sail For Ethics

S4E 1996 Court-Saint-Etienne Belgium G

Sandra Ann Morsilli Pacific-Basin Capital Markets Research Center

PACAP 1989 Kingston RI USA N

Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology

1997 Bergen Norway N

Pages