Heads of state from more than 190 nations attend the opening day of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris, 2015 © Christophe Calais / Signatures / Greenpeace
OCEANS AND CLIMATE IN POLITICS United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) In May 1992, with the adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the world’s governments took their first major step towards cooperating to tackle the growing threat of climate change at a global level. The UNFCCC sets out the basic legal framework and principles for international climate change cooperation, with the objective of stabilising ‘greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.’263 The convention, which entered into force on 21 March 1994, has 197 parties. It notes the role of the ocean as a carbon sink but does not include a specific stream of work on the ocean.
Paris Agreement A significant step forward was made at the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference (COP 21) convened in Paris, France, which culminated in the adoption of the Paris Agreement on 12th December 2015.264 It has now been ratified by 185 of the 197 Parties to the convention.265 The agreement centres on a goal to limit global average temperature increase to well below 2°C above preindustrial levels, whilst pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. It also aims to increase parties’ ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and make financial flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate resilient development.266 Under the Paris Agreement, at five-year intervals each party shall communicate successively more ambitious NDCs. By 2020, parties whose NDCs contain a time frame up to 2025 are requested to communicate a new NDC. Parties with an NDC time frame up to 2030 are requested to communicate or update these contributions. An important feature of the Paris Agreement includes a process known as the global stocktake, to review collective progress on mitigation, adaptation and means of implementation. Beginning in 2023, parties will convene this process at five-year intervals. In Paris, parties also agreed on the need to mobilise stronger and more ambitious climate action by all parties. Current NDCs fall far short of what is required in order to limit warming to 1.5°C and many countries, including the majority of the G20, are not on track to meet their current targets.267
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IN HOT WATER: THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND THE URGENT NEED FOR OCEAN PROTECTION
Because the Ocean Initiative In the years since the ratification of the UNFCCC, there has been a growing understanding of the role of the ocean with respect to climate change and, consequently, a growing call from scientists, civil society and some governments to include a dedicated workstream on the ocean-climate nexus within the UNFCCC. Just prior to the Paris COP in November 2015, the Because the Ocean Initiative was launched. 23 countries signed the first Because the Ocean Declaration, which supported a then just proposed Special Report on the Ocean by the IPCC. It also backed the convening of a high-level UN ocean conference in support of the implementation of SDG 14, which focuses on the ocean, and promoted an ocean action plan within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.268 A year later at COP 22 in Marrakech, Morocco, a further 10 countries had joined the original 23 to sign a second declaration which underlines the importance of further scientific knowledge to better understand: 1.
The biological interactions of marine biodiversity and ecosystems with greenhouse gas emissions and the climate system, particularly with respect to mitigation opportunities.
2.
The socio-economic and environmental implications of climate change impacts on the ocean, with a view toward adaptation action. Specifically, the second declaration encourages ‘UNFCCC Parties to consider submitting Nationally Determined Contributions that promote, as appropriate, ambitious climate action in order to minimize the adverse effects of climate change in the ocean and to contribute to its protection and conservation.’
The Because the Ocean Initiative continues to be developed through a series of international workshops and, as of July 2019, is supported by 39 signatories: Aruba, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Finland, France, Guatemala, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Kiribati, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Marshall Islands, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Palau, Peru, Romania, Senegal, Seychelles, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Uruguay, UK. The ‘red threads’ that run through this work are that ocean action is critical for climate action, ocean-related mitigation and adaptation measures can help countries increase their climate ambition and it is necessary to strengthen the science-policy relationship for better informed decision-making for ocean action.
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