Panama is to host the eighth “Our Ocean Conference (OOC)” in 2023 and Greece prepares to host the ninth OOC in 2024.
As stated in the press note of the US Department of State, the Republic of Korea’s (ROK) will host the 10th (OOC) in 2025.
The first-ever OOC was convened in 2014 by the US. Sustained by a growing community of international hosts and global commitments to action, the OOC bring together governments and non-state actors to make concrete commitments and have resulted in more than 1,800 commitments, worth nearly US $108 billion, to protect ocean health and security
Ocean touches every aspect of our lives and it regulates our climate and weather, generates approximately half of the planet’s oxygen, and provides food and livelihoods for billions of people.
Yet the health of the ocean is under threat. Human activities, such as overfishing and plastic pollution, are harming ocean ecosystems and the communities that depend on them. At the same time, greenhouse gas emissions are driving the climate crisis and an ocean crisis.
The Republic of Palau and the United States co-hosted the 7th Our Ocean Conference on April 13-14, 2022 was the first Our Ocean Conference to be held in a Small Island Developing State that came to end with more than 400 commitments worth more than US $16 billion across the climate change, sustainable fisheries, sustainable blue economies, marine protected areas, maritime security, and marine pollution issues.
