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

Save Our Seas

SOS 1993 G f

Save our Seas Foundation

SOSF 2003 Geneva Switzerland G f

Save the Orangutan

Copenhagen Denmark D

Save the Rhino International

SRI 1992 London UK F v

Save the Tiger Fund

STF 1995 Washington DC USA G f

SaveNature.Org

1988 San Francisco CA USA G

Scandinavian Green Infrastructure Association

SGIA 2001 Malmö Sweden D

Scandinavian Turfgrass and Environment Research Foundation

STERF 2001 Stockholm Sweden F f

Scheldeverdrag, 2002

2002 T g

Science for Peace

SFP 1981 Toronto ON Canada G

Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research

SCOR 1957 Newark DE USA E y

Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment

SCOPE 1969 Amstelveen Netherlands E y

Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics

SCOSTEP 1966 Newton MA USA E y

Scuola Internazionale Ambiente Salute e Sviluppo Sostenibile

SIASS 2004 Arezzo Italy G

SDG Watch Europe

F y

Sea Alarm Foundation

1999 Brussels Belgium F f

Sea Change Foundation International

2011 N f

Sea First Foundation

SFF 2009 Bergschenhoek Netherlands G f

Sea Shepherd International

1977 Friday Harbor WA USA G

Sea Turtle Conservancy

STC 1959 Gainesville FL USA G

Sea Watch Foundation

1991 Anglesey UK G fv

Seagrass 2000

Corte France E

SEALOEarth

2011 Westford MA USA G

SEAMEO Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts

SEAMEO SPAFA 1985 Bangkok Thailand E g

SEAMEO TROPMED Regional Centre for Public Health, Hospital Administration, Environmental and Occupational Health

Manila Philippines E g

Seas at Risk

SAR 1986 Brussels Belgium F y

Seaweed for Europe

J

Secretariat for the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer

Ozone Secretariat 1989 Nairobi Kenya E g

Secrétariat international francophone pour l'évaluation environnementale

SIFÉE 1996 Montréal QC Canada E

Secretariat of the Convention of Wetlands

1987 Gland Switzerland E g

Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity

SCBD 1993 Montréal QC Canada E g

Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

CITES Secretariat Geneva Switzerland E g

Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals

UNEP/CMS Bonn Germany E g

Secretariat of the Minamata Convention on Mercury

Geneva Switzerland E g

Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme

SPREP 1982 Apia Samoa E g

Secrétariat pour l'Évaluation Environnementale en Afrique Centrale

SEEAC 1998 D

SEEDS Asia

2006 Kobe Japan D

Service Civil International

SCI 1920 Antwerp Belgium B

SETAC Asia/Pacific

SETAC AP 1997 Coopers Plains QLD Australia K

SETAC Latin America

Sao Paulo Brazil K

Shark Advocates International

SAI Washington DC USA J

Shark Research Institute

SRI 1991 Princeton NJ USA F j

Shark Trust

1997 Plymouth UK G

SHARKPROJECT International

2002 Heusenstamm Germany F

Shell Foundation

2000 London UK G f

Siemenpuu Foundation

1998 Helsinki Finland G f

Sierra Club International Program

1972 Oakland CA USA E

SkyTruth

2002 Shepherdstown WV USA G

Small Island Developing States - Island Energy for Island Life

SIDS DOCK E g

Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group

SOC 1975 Strasbourg France F v

Pages