International conference on oceans, climate change & sustainable development: Challenges to oceans & coastal cities

Background

The ocean covers almost three-quarters of the Earth’s surface and by 2025 about 75 percent of the world’s population could be living within 100km of its coasts. While the total economic and social value of the ocean can never be fully or accurately estimated, humankind has an economic and social dependency on goods, services and uses provided by the oceans; it is the largest source of protein for humankind and more than 90 percent of the planet’s living biomass is found in the ocean (IUCN, 1997).

The Pacem in Maribus (PIM) Conference is one of the flagship activities of International Ocean Institute (IOI); the PIM Conference series is titled from the Latin for “Peace in the Oceans”. PIM Conferences have played a crucial role in the formulation and promotion of UNCLOS and provide a forum where the challenges of ocean space can be considered in their inter-connectedness. Thirty-two such conferences have been held to date around the globe including PIM XXIV, held in Beijing, China in November 1996, focused on “Oceans in the Twenty-First Century”. PIM Conferences have become respected as important events in understanding threats to the world’s oceans as well as the potential of oceans resources to sustain humankind.

2010 is the year of the 50th Anniversary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, and is also the occasion of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai with the theme “Better City, Better Life”. The State Oceanic Administration (SOA) of China, in cooperation with IOI and IOC, will co-organize a high-level conference together with the PIM XXXIII to commemorate the important contributions of IOC in promoting international cooperation and coordination in ocean scientific research, service and capacity building since its creation in 1960, and also to address important global, regional and national issues on the role of oceans in climate
change and sustainable development. The Conference will be followed by a side meeting in Shanghai.

Aims of the conference

The Conference is titled “Oceans, Climate Change and Sustainable Development: Challenges to Oceans and Coastal Cities”. It is designed to provide a forum for intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, governments, as well as scientists and experts to address the challenges to oceans and coastal cities, to explore scientific understanding of the impacts on and of the ocean, to discuss policies on the use and protection of the oceans in supporting economic development, to identify measures for adaptation and mitigation efforts, to share experiences and best practices in order to make better and more livable coastal cities, and
also to advance ocean science.

Outcomes

It is expected that the Conference will make a major contribution as a result of the deliberations by scientists, experts and managers having addressed the specificity of ocean, climate change and sustainable development and challenges to oceans and coastal cities.

Major conference themes

1.Oceans and climate change
- The Role of the Oceans in Climate Change
- Global Assessment of the State of Marine
- Environment
- Oceans and Climate Change Mitigation
- Integration of Ocean Issues in Climate Change Negotiations
- Ocean Science Challenges in Addressing Climate Change
- Partnership in Ocean Observations and Data Exchange

2. The role of oceans in sustainable development
- Policies and Strategies of Development of the Marine Economy in the Next Decade
- New Strategies for Marine Industry Facing Climate Change and Global Economic Crisis
- Marine Spatial Planning and Marine Sustainable Development
- Technological Innovation and Transfer for Marine Sustainable Development
- Healthy Oceans and Human Health: an Approach to Integrated Coastal Management

3. Challenges to coastal cities
- Mitigation of Climate Change Impacts on Coastal Zones and Cities
- Strengthening Coastal Ecosystem Resilience to Climate Change
- Maritime Security, Piracy, Natural and Anthropogenic Disasters
- Global Economic Crisis and Marine Activities
- Contribution of Coastal Cities to the Vitality of National and Regional Economies