Vol. 7 | July 2024

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Vol. 7 | July 2024

A note from GOAP's Co-Chairs

Dear GOAP Friends and Colleagues,

Thank you to everyone that participated or engaged in the Global Dialogue on Sustainable Ocean Development. We were excited to meet so many members of the global GOAP Communities of Practice and take part in the key strategic discussions and knowledge sharing sessions that took place in Bali.

On the final day of the event, we shared the ambitious GOAP Co-Chair Vision Statement, which outlines our shared goals and vision for the GOAP over the next two years (view here). This includes to:

  • Strengthen existing GOAP Ocean Accounting Communities of Practice (CoP) in Africa and the Pacific Islands;
  • Build an Ocean Accounting CoP for Latin America and the Caribbean, providing opportunities for training and learning across the region;
  • Increase the frequency and geographic distribution of south-south cooperation, within and between GOAP Communities of Practice; and
  • Use ocean accounts to assist the delivery and implementation of relevant targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and sustainable development goals (SDGs).

We look forward to working with the GOAP Secretariat, Members and partners to achieve this vision during our two-year term as Co-Chairs.

In global ocean accounting news, Costa Rica recently announced they will be one of the first countries to complete an environmental economic account of their ocean. To support this goal, the GOAP Secretariat will work with Costa Rica and partners to convene a meeting in January with international actors, multilateral entities and philanthropists to design a path to bring ocean environmental economic accounts to the United Nations Ocean Conference in June 2025 in Nice, France.
 
We are also looking forward to the upcoming 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16) in Colombia and will be working with the GOAP Secretariat to advance a high level side event to further our work on the linkages between ocean accounts and the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Learn more by reading the Policy Brief prepared by the GOAP Secretariat here.
 
In addition to the Global Dialogue, the GOAP Secretariat and partners have been busy supporting multiple workshops, including national workshops to support ocean accounting to inform ocean management and policy decisions in Maldives, Tonga, Fiji and Costa Rica.

In this edition of the Newsletter, you will find an overview of these workshops and upcoming events in sustainable ocean development, highlights from the Global Dialogue, updates from the global ocean accounting Community of Practice and new knowledge products from the global community.
Happy reading,

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