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

Bretton Woods Project

1995 London UK G

British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia

BACSA 1976 London UK N

British Institute of International and Comparative Law

BIICL 1958 London UK G jv

Built Environment Professions in the Commonwealth

BEPIC 1997 Bristol UK G

Bureau gravimétrique international

BGI 1951 Toulouse France F

Bureau of International Recycling

BIR 1948 Brussels Belgium C t

Busan Foundation for International Cooperation

BFIC 2005 Busan Korea Rep G

Butterfly Conservation Europe

BCE 2004 Wageningen Netherlands F

CABI

1985 Wallingford UK C g

Cambridge Centre for the Study of Existential Risk

CSER Cambridge UK N j

Campaign Whale

1980 Lewes UK G

Captain Planet Foundation

1991 Atlanta GA USA G f

Caretakers of the Environment International

CEI 1986 F

Caribbean ASEAN Voluntary Council for Sustainable Development Goals

Caribbean ASEAN Council J

Caribbean Biodiversity Fund

CBF 2012 Nassau Bahamas J f

Caribbean Chamber of Commerce in Europe

CCCE 2019 Brussels Belgium E t

Caribbean Conservation Association

CCA 1967 D

Caribbean Environment Programme

CEP Kingston Jamaica E g

Caribbean Fisheries Training and Development Institute

CFTDI 1974 Chaguaramas Trinidad-Tobago E gj

Caribbean Fishery Management Council

CFMC 1976 San Juan Puerto Rico F g

Caribbean Information System for the Agricultural Sciences

CAGRIS St Augustine Trinidad-Tobago F g

Caribbean Marine Protected Areas Management Network

CaMPAM 1997 Marathon FL USA G

Caribbean Network of Fisherfolk Organisations

CNFO 2004 F

Caribbean Recycling Foundation

CRF 1994 Palm City FL USA N f

Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism

CRFM 2003 Belize City Belize F gy

Caribbean Research and Management of Biodiversity Foundation

CARMABI Foundation 1955 Willemstad Curaçao G fj

Caribbean Youth Environment Network

CYEN 1993 Bridgetown Barbados F

CARICOM Regional Organization for Standards and Quality

CROSQ 2002 St Michael Barbados E g

Carpathian Ecoregion Initiative

CERI 1999 Bratislava Slovakia F

Caspian Environment Programme

CEP 1998 Nur-Sultan Kazakhstan E g

Catalyst 2030

2020 Haarlem Netherlands J y

Catholic Youth Network for Environmental Sustainability in Africa

CYNESA 2012 Nairobi Kenya F

Caucasus Environmental NGO Network

CENN 1998 Tbilisi Georgia F

CEDAM International

1967 Croton-on-Hudson NY USA G

CEEweb for Biodiversity

1993 Budapest Hungary F y

Cell Stress Society International

CSSI 1999 West Hartford CT USA D

Center for Conservation Peacebuilding

CPeace 2006 Washington DC USA G

Center for Health and the Global Environment

CHGE 1996 Boston MA USA G

Center for Human Rights and Environment

1999 Palm Beach Gardens FL USA G

Center for International Environmental Law

CIEL 1989 Washington DC USA G

Center for Oceanic Awareness, Research and Education

COARE 2006 Oakland CA USA G

Center for Oceans Law and Policy

COLP 1976 Charlottesville VA USA G

Center for Pacific Basin Business, Economics, and Finance Research

CPBBEFR New Brunswick NJ USA N

Center for Women, the Earth, the Divine

City Island NY USA G

Central Africa Protected Areas Network

Libreville Gabon D

Central American Isthmus Port Institution Meeting

Managua Nicaragua S c

Central and Southeast Europe LCA Network

CASE-LCA 2011 Novi Sad Serbia F

Central Asian and Caucasus Regional Fisheries and Aquaculture Commission

CACFish 2009 Ankara Türkiye E g

Central Caribbean Marine Institute

CCMI 1998 Princeton NJ USA G j

Central Dredging Association

CEDA 1978 Delft Netherlands D

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