The Blue COP

Carolina Schmidt, Chile's Minister of Environment and the President of the ‘Blue COP’, speaks at the Chile Pavilion

The 25^th Conference of the Parties (COP25) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is now well into its second week. While negotiators hammer out the last rules needed to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Chilean Presidency is working in parallel to elevate attention to a key issue for Chile—the ocean.

Chile refers to COP25 as the “Blue COP” to emphasize its focus on the ocean-climate interface. In 2017 at COP23, Fiji hosted the first blue COP, which made the ocean central to the UNFCCC conversation for the first time. At COP25, there have been over 100 events discussing the ocean and climate change, covering issues that include maritime shipping, ocean science, ocean acidification and deoxygenation, and nature-based solutions.

Panelists across different events expressed particular appreciation for the unprecedented attention given to nature-based solutions. One panel moderated by Wetlands International focused on advancements in analysis that overlays areas critical for biodiversity with areas with high potential for carbon sequestration. This analysis can help decision makers to figure out what areas should be prioritized for conservation. For example, a mapping project by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds displays the keystone areas for climate mitigation and biodiversity in the United Kingdom. The panelists also highlighted that the World Database of Key Biodiversity Areas will soon have a carbon overlay feature.

Another panel, hosted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Ramsar Convention, emphasized the importance of governance and institutional structures to support effective nature-based solutions for coastal regions. IUCN’s report with the University of Oxford, Nature-based Solutions in Nationally Determined Contributions, assesses the extent to which countries are already including nature-based solutions in their national mitigation and adaptation planning and implementation. The Costa Rican Minister of Environment and Energy, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, suggested that, in the Costa Rican context, they must borrow from terrestrial policy to develop nuanced institutional structures for ocean governance. He sees this as a challenge shared by many countries and regions.

At the launch event for the Platform for Science-Based Ocean Solutions (PSBOS), the COP presidency announced an effort to support countries in institutionalizing and implementing ocean and nature-based solutions. Using the web-based platform, Panorama Solutions, countries, regions, and non-governmental groups will be able to share climate solutions and lessons learned from projects. The website can be searched by thematic area, geography, or challenge (including climate hazards, economic challenges, social challenges, and ecological challenges).

Some countries would like the ocean to have a permanent agenda item at U.N. climate negotiations. While this has yet to come to fruition, these parties and their civil society allies have raised the profile of the ocean significantly in recent years—a welcome development critical to addressing the challenge of climate change.

 

Author: Anna McGinn