2022 UN Ocean Conference

The 2022 UN Ocean Conference is taking place from June 27 to July 1, 2022, in Lisbon, Portugal. It will bring together world leaders, public and private sector experts, and civil society to discuss how to scale up innovative, science-based actions to protect the world’s oceans.

IISD will report on the discussions through our Earth Negotiations Bulletin. Our experts will also be participating in the following three side events:

Launch of the 2022 FAO State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture Report—Towards Blue Transformation 

1:15 p.m. on June 29, 2022  

This side event, hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), will launch The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) report—the biennial flagship report of the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division. The 2022 edition is focused on how to achieve a “blue transformation,” defined as a vision for resilient, equitable, and sustainable aquatic food systems.

Alice Tipping, Lead, Sustainable Trade and Fisheries Subsidies at IISD, will moderate a panel of experts as they discuss the report’s highlights and the challenges faced by the sector.

Trade Facilitation for a Sustainable Blue Economy 

1 p.m. on June 29, 2022  

This side event, hosted by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in partnership with the Commonwealth Secretariat, FAO, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), will host a multi-stakeholder panel to discuss the role of trade facilitation in helping to build a sustainable blue economy.

Ieva Baršauskaitė, Senior Policy Advisor at IISD, will participate in the panel and provide insights on how to achieve the trade-related targets of Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water.

Addressing Key Challenges in Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Seafood Trade Policy for Sustainable Development 

4 p.m. on July 1, 2022 

IISD is co-organizing this side event alongside UNCTAD, the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea at the UN Office of Legal Affairs, the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium—as well as other partners, including the governments of New Zealand and Ecuador, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and the University of British Columbia. It will discuss the most pressing sustainability challenges facing fisheries, aquaculture, and the seafood industry.

Ieva Baršauskaitė, Senior Policy Advisor at IISD, will join the panel of speakers as they outline the role that trade policy can play in supporting the sustainable development of fisheries and aquaculture.