Sustainable Development Goal 14

Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Goal 14, SDG14 or SDG 14) – Life below water – is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015. "Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development".[1] The Goal has targets to be achieved by 2030. Progress towards targets will be measured by indicators.

SDG 14: Life below water

Background

The Sustainable Development Goals
See also: Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations. The broad goals are interrelated though each has its own targets to achieve. The total number of targets is 169. The SDGs cover a broad range of social and economic development issues. These include poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change, gender equality, Water supply, sanitation, energy, urbanization, environment and social justice.[2][3]

The SDGs replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which started a global effort in 2002 to end poverty, achieve universal education, empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat diseases such as HIV, ensure environment sustainability, and develop a global partnership for development.[4] The Outcome Document of the UN Summit on the 2030 Agenda, ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, includes an emphasis on the importance of achieving progress on peaceful and inclusive societies, access to justice and rule of law, and effective, accountable and inclusive institutions.[5]

An annual report is prepared by the Secretary-General of the United Nations evaluating the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.[6]

Challenges

Oceans cover 71 percent of the Earth's surface. They are essential for making the planet livable. Rainwater, drinking water and climate are all regulated by ocean temperatures and currents. Over 3 billion people depend on marine life for their livelihood. Oceans absorb 30 percent of all carbon dioxide produced by humans.[7] The oceans contain more than 200,000 identified species, and there might be thousands of species that are yet to be discovered. Oceans are the world's largest sources of protein. However, there has been a 26 percent increase in acidification since the industrial revolution.

A full 30 percent of marine habitats have been destroyed, and 30 percent of the world's fish stocks are over-exploited.[7] Marine pollution has reached shocking levels; each minute, 15 tons of plastic are released into the oceans.[8] 20 percent of all coral reefs have been destroyed irreversibly, and another 24 percent are in immediate risk of collapse.[9] Approximately 1 million sea birds, 100 000 marine mammals, and an unknown number of fish are harmed or die annually due to marine pollution caused by humans. It has been found that 95 percent of fulmars in Norway have plastic parts in their guts.[8] Microplastics are another form of marine pollution.

Characterized by extinctions, invasions, hybridizations and reductions in the abundance of species, marine biodiversity is currently in global decline.[10] “Over the past decades, there has been an exponential increase in human activates in and near oceans, resulting in negative consequences to our marine environment.”[11] Made evident by the degradation of habitats and changes in ecosystem processes,[10] the declining health of the oceans has a negative effect on people, their livelihoods and entire economies, with local communities which rely on ocean resources being the most affected.[11] Poor decisions in resource management can compromise conservation, local livelihood, and resource sustainability goals.[12] “The sustainable management of our oceans relies on the ability to influence and guide human use of the marine environment.”[13]

Targets and indicators

The targets include preventing and reducing marine pollution and acidification, protecting marine and coastal ecosystems, and regulating fishing. The targets also call for an increase in scientific knowledge of the oceans.[14][15] Some targets have a target year of 2020, some have a target year of 2025 and some have no end year.

The ten targets for SDG 14 include:[16]

  • 14.1 Reduce marine pollution: By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution.
  • 14.2 Protect and restore ecosystems: By 2020, sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts, including by strengthening their resilience, and take action for their restoration in order to achieve healthy and productive oceans.
  • 14.3 Reduce ocean acidification: Minimize and address the impacts of ocean acidification, including through enhanced scientific cooperation at all levels.
  • 14.4 Sustainable fishing: By 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics.
  • 14.5 Conserve coastal and marine areas: By 2020, conserve at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas, consistent with national and international law and based on the best available scientific information.
  • 14.6 End subsidies contributing to overfishing: By 2020, prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and refrain from introducing new such subsidies, recognizing that appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries should be an integral part of the world trade organization fisheries subsidies negotiation.
  • 14.7 Increase the economic benefits from sustainable use of marine resources: By 2030, increase the economic benefits to small island developing states and least developed countries from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism.
  • 14.A Increase scientific knowledge, research and technology for ocean health: Increase scientific knowledge, develop research capacity and transfer marine technology, taking into account the intergovernmental oceanographic commission criteria and guidelines on the transfer of marine technology, in order to improve ocean health and to enhance the contribution of marine biodiversity to the development of developing countries, in particular small island developing states and least developed countries.
  • 14.B Support small scale fishers: Provide access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets.
  • 14.C Implement and enforce international sea law: Enhance the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources by implementing international law as reflected in the united nations convention on the law of the sea, which provides the legal framework for the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources, as recalled in paragraph 158 of “the future we want”.

Monitoring progress

The Preparatory Meeting to the UN Ocean Conference convened in New York, US, in February 2017, to discuss the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14. International law, as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), stressed the need to include governance instruments to consider “anthropogenic activities taking place outside of the ocean”.[17] Concerns regarding ocean health in destructive fishing practices and marine pollution were discussed, in looking at the role of local communities of small island developing States (SIDS) and least developed countries (LDCs) to not forget that oceans are a large part of their economies.[17]

Although many participating United Nations legislative bodies comes together to discuss the issues around marine environments and SDG 14, such as at the United Nations Ocean Conference, it is important to consider how SDG 14 is implemented across different Multilateral Environmental Agreements, respectively. As climate, biodiversity and land degradation are major parts of the issues surrounding the deterioration of marine environments and oceans, it is important to know how each Rio Convention implements this SDG.

Linkages with other SDGs

Sustainable Development Goal 14 has been incorporated into the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD),[18] the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),[19] and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).[20]

Climate action is used as a way of protecting the world's oceans. Oceans cover three quarters of the Earth's surface and impact global climate systems through functions of carbon dioxide absorption from the atmosphere and oxygen generation. The increase in levels of greenhouse gases leading to changes in climate negatively affects the world's oceans and marine coastal communities. The resulting impacts of rising sea levels by 20 centimeters since the start of the 20th century and the increase of ocean acidity by 30% since the Industrial Revolution has contributed to the melting of ice sheets through the thermal expansion of sea water.[21]

Society and culture

Actions

As conservation of marine resources is critical to the well-being of local fishing communities and their livelihoods, related management actions may lead to changes in human behavior to support conservation programs to achieve their goals.[22] Ultimately, governments and international agencies act as gatekeepers, interfering with needed stakeholder participation in decision making.[23] The way to best safeguard life in oceans is to implement effective management strategies around marine environments.[24]

Individuals can help the oceans by reducing their energy consumption and their use of plastics. Nations can also take action. In Norway, for instance, citizens, working through a web page called finn.no, can earn money for picking up plastic on the beach.[25] Several countries, including Kenya and Tanzania, have banned the use of plastic bags for retail purchases.[26][27] Improving the oceans contributes to poverty reduction, as it gives low-income families a source of income and healthy food. Keeping beaches and ocean water clean in less developed countries can attract tourism, as stated in Goal 8, and reduce poverty by providing more employment.[9]

See also
  • List of SDG targets and indicators

Sources

 This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY SA 3.0 IGO License statement: UNESCO moving forward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 22, UNESCO. To learn how to add open license text to Wikipedia articles, please see this how-to page. For information on reusing text from Wikipedia, please see the terms of use.

References
  1. United Nations official website on SDGs: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg14
  2. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/4538pressowg13.pdf
  3. "United Nations Official Document". United Nations.
  4. "United Nations Millennium Development Goals". United Nations.
  5. "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform". United Nations.
  6. See the 2017 report: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=E/2017/66&Lang=E
  7. UNDP2017
  8. WWF2017
  9. UN2016
  10. Staples, D., & Hermes, R. (2012). Marine biodiversity and resource management – what is the link? Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management, 15(3), 245–252. doi:10.1080/14634988.2012.709429
  11. Vierros, M. (2017). Global Marine Governance and Oceans Management for the Achievement of SDG 14. UN Chronicle, 54(1/2), 1. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=123355527&site=ehost-live&scope=site
  12. Metcalfe, K., Collins, T., Abernethy, K. E., Boumba, R., Dengui, J., Miyalou, R., … Godley, B. J. (2017). Addressing Uncertainty in Marine Resource Management; Combining Community Engagement and Tracking Technology to Characterize Human Behavior. Conservation Letters, 10(4), 459–469. doi:10.1111/conl.12293
  13. van Putten, I. E., Plagányi, É. E., Booth, K., Cvitanovic, C., Kelly, R., Punt, A. E., & Richards, S. A. (2018). A framework for incorporating sense of place into the management of marine systems. Ecology & Society, 23(4), 42–65. doi:10.5751/ES-10504-230404
  14. "Goal 14: Life below water". UNDP.
  15. "Life Below Water: Why It Matters" (PDF).
  16. "Goal 14: Life Below Water". The Global Goals. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  17. Covert, J. (2017). Planning for the Implementation of SDG-14. Environmental Policy & Law, 47(1), 6–8. doi:10.3233/EPL-170003
  18. CBD (2019). Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Retrieved from https://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/
  19. "Ocean Climate Action Making Waves | UNFCCC". unfccc.int. Archived from the original on 2019-04-10. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  20. "Land and Sustainable Development Goals | UNCCD". www.unccd.int. Archived from the original on 2019-04-13. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  21. "Climate Action is Needed to Protect World's Oceans | UNFCCC". unfccc.int. Archived from the original on 2019-04-10. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
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  23. Finkl, C. W., & Makowski, C. (2010). Increasing sustainability of coastal management by merging monitored marine environments with inventoried shelf resources. International Journal of Environmental Studies, 67(6), 861–870. doi:10.1080/00207230902916786
  24. "Goal 14 .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform". sustainabledevelopment.un.org. Archived from the original on 2019-04-12. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  25. Tesdal Galtung, Anders; Rolfsnes, May-Helen (13 July 2017). "Finn.no kjøper sekker med havplast". NRK. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  26. "Kenya plastic bag ban comes into force after years of delays". BBC News. 28 August 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  27. "You will no longer carry plastic bags in Tanzania with effect". The Citizen. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
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