Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ)
The meeting on Area Based Planning Tools and Regional Cooperation for the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda was held in Mahe, Seychelles on 13-14 October 2016 by the Secretariat for the Nairobi Convention for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Western Indian Ocean region in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) as part of the implementation of the project on Sustainable fisheries Management and Biodiversity Conservation of Deep-sea Livin
The Coastal Governance Index is an Economist Intelligence Unit report, commissioned by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and California Environmental Associates. Hilary Steiner and Jimena Serrano were the project managers. The quantitative index underlying this report measures the extent of government regulation and management across 20 key ocean economies to assess the state of play in the environment for effective coastal governance.
Marine industries face a number of risks that necessitate careful analysis prior to making decisions on the siting of operations and facilities. An important emerging regulatory framework on environmental sustainability for business operations is the International Finance Corporation’s Performance Standard 6 (IFC PS6). Within PS6, identification of biodiversity significance is articulated through the concept of “Critical Habitat”, a definition developed by the IFC and detailed through criteria aligned with those that support internationally accepted biodiversity designations.
Trait-based approaches advance ecological and evolutionary research because traits provide a strong link to an organism’s function and fitness. Trait-based research might lead to a deeper understanding of the functions of, and services provided by, ecosystems, thereby improving management, which is vital in the current era of rapid environmental change.
Transshipment at sea, the offloading of catch from a fishing vessel to a refrigerated cargo vessel far from port, obscures the actual source of the catch and is a significant pathway for illegally caught fish to enter the legitimate seafood market. Occurring out of sight and over the horizon, the practice enables other nefarious activity, ranging from smuggling to human trafficking. Increasing the transparency of transshipment could improve fisheries management and reduce human rights abuses.
This dataset displays the extent of our knowledge regarding the distribution of saltmarshes globally, drawing from occurrence data (surveyed and/or remotely sensed). The dataset was developed to provide a baseline inventory of the extent of our knowledge regarding the global distribution of saltmarshes, which are ecosystems located in the intertidal zone of sheltered marine and estuarine coastlines.
The UN General Assembly has made a unanimous decision to start negotiations to