Scene-Setting Session
The Ocean Economy: Opportunities and the growing pressures on our oceans and seas
9:00-10:30 Room CC4
This session provided the context for the conference and presented an overview of the opportunities offered by the ocean economy, as well as the pressures the ocean faces from systematic problems such as over-fishing and exploitation of marine resources, habitat destruction, climate change and pollution. These pressures can jeopardise the livelihoods of millions of people, as shown in The Ocean Economy in 2030 (OECD, 2016) and Marine Ecosystems: State, pressures, economic values and policy instruments to foster sustainable use, based on Chapter 1 Marine Protected Areas: Economics, Management and Effective Policy Mixes (OECD, 2017).
Moderator: Anthony Cox |
Keynote address:
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Opening Remarks by: Angel Gurría |
Scene-setting presentation:
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Presentation of the OECD work on Ocean Economy:
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Session 1
“Greening” of Ocean-Based Industries: Case of bio-based sectors using living marine resources
11:00-12:45 Room CC4
This session featured ongoing efforts and best practices to ensure economic growth, enhance job creation and innovation, and ensuring energy and food security, while addressing challenges such as overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and climate change. The discussion also focused on the need to reform subsidies and address excess capacity in the fisheries industries, and promote responsible business conduct (e.g. the use of “due diligence” through supply chains to address risks, and role of stakeholders in strengthening business accountability) within the global value chains.
Moderator: Carl-Christian Schmidt Chair, Nordic Marine Think Tank and former Head of the OECD Fisheries Policy Division |
Panellists:
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Keynote speaker: Wendy Watson-Wright CEO, Ocean Frontier Institute, Canada |
Key policy questions:
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Session 2
Marine spatial planning: a tool for improving ocean governance
14:15-16:00 Room CC4
Effective governance is another essential part of the solution to “greening” the ocean economy. This session focused on marine spatial planning (MSP) including eco-system based approaches, an emerging tool for governments to analyse and allocate the spatial and temporal distribution of the often competing demands for marine space and resources. In essence, MSP addresses the need for conservation and economic activities in the marine environment, to help balance use and protection. In addition, there should be some degree of coordination between local implementation frameworks, national policies and sea basin regional strategies. Panelist explored questions on the lessons we can learn from marine protected areas, integrated coastal zone management, marine spatial planning and other ecosystem-based management approaches. The Issue Paper "Marine Spatial Planning: Assessing the net benefits and improving the effectiveness" was relevant for this session.
Moderator: Anthony Cox Acting Director, OECD Environment Directorate |
Panellists:
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Keynote presentation: Susanna Fulller Marine Biologist and Senior Marine Coordinator, |
Key policy questions for discussion:
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Parallel Sessions
Session A. Monitor progress of the SDG 14 implementation - Room CC18
This session covered global, regional and national indicators for SDG 14 and reflected on the outcomes of the UN Ocean Conference (New York, 5-9 June 2017) and the 2017 High-Level Political Forum on sustainable development (HLPF) (New York, 10-19 July 2017). It further discussed the relevant work that has been done in this area by the OECD in the contexts of the OECD Green Growth Indicators policy instruments and on indicators on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing (14.4) and fisheries subsidies that induce overfishing and overcapacity (14.6). The OECD further stated its development of a more reliable and harmonised set of indicators on marine protected areas, based on the work of UNEP’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) (14.5). The session also addressed the use of new technologies and big data to improve public policy and capacity to monitor IUU fishing, as it is becoming more important. The Issue Paper "A preliminary assessment of SDG 14 indicators" was relevant for this session.
Moderator: Charlotte de Fontaubert Senior Fisheries Specialist, World Bank |
Panellists:
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Key policy questions for discussion:
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Session B. Marine litter, Micro-plastics and the Circular Economy - Room CC4
In many OECD countries, marine litter is now high on the environmental agenda, e.g. the EU’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) addresses marine litter issues. Regarding Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) pressure is growing to prevent micro-plastics entering the oceans. Assigning such responsibility could provide incentives to prevent waste at source, promote product design, support the achievement of public recycling and materials management goals, and policies needed to combat “ghost fishing” (disused fishing nets left in the oceans).
Moderator: Peter Börkey |
Panellists:
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Scene-Setter: Richard Thompson |
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Key Policy questions for discussion:
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Session C. Targeting criminal activities at sea with economic and financial perspectives - Room CC2
Illicit activities at sea are growing and evolving, giving rise to new concerns regarding security and maritime safety. Among them, illegal unreported unregulated fishing (IUU) is one of the greatest threats to marine ecosystems, as it dilutes the effect of policies aimed at preserving fish stocks and protecting ecosystems. IUU fishing operations also involve economic crimes such as document forgery, corruption, money laundering, tax fraud and occasionally terrorism financing. This session discusses policies at the nexus of these activities to deter and curb criminal activities at sea. The Issue Paper “New technologies and big data to monitor sustainable fisheries management” was relevant for this session.
Moderator: Antonia Leroy |
Panellists:
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Scene-Setter: Alistair McDonnell |
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Key Policy questions for discussion:
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Session D. Tourism as a driver for Green Growth - Room CC7
Tourism is a significant driver of coastal zone development by creating demand for buildings and infrastructure such as marinas, coastal trails and other waterfront developments.can also promote the development and diversification of local and regional economies. The traditional coastal (mass) tourism model could be rejuvenated to become more inclusive and generate a higher value added. This session discussed how tourism can play a key role in driving the transition to a green ocean economy and help meet the Sustainable Development Goals.
Moderator: Alain Dupeyras |
Panellists:
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Scene-Setter: Daniel Skjeldam |
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Key Policy questions for discussion:
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Reporting back and Session 3
Reporting Back from Parallel Sessions on Day 1
9:30-10:15 Room CC4
The parallel sessions in the afternoon of Day 1 reviewed specific aspects of green growth and ocean economy. The moderators of these sessions were invited to report back to the plenary on the key knowledge gaps and recommendations for further work that emerged from their sessions.
Moderator: Kumi Kitamori Head of Green Growth and Global Relations, |
Parallel Session Moderators:
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Session 3 - “Greening” of Ocean-Based Industries: Case of sectors based on non-living marine resources and infrastructure
10:45-12:15 Room CC4
Session 3 exposed how ocean-based industries that rely on non-living marine resources are making efforts to shift towards green growth. Existing and emerging industries, such as deep-sea oil and gas exploitation, sea-bed mining, renewable energy, shipbuilding, maritime transport and coastal tourism development, have started greening their activities by taking advantage of innovation, digitalisation trends and successful cross-sectoral collaboration. This session discussed best practices in addressing risks and uncertainties for the future development of these industries, policy options to boost business prospects while managing the ocean sustainably through green public procurement, sustainable tourism and coastal zone management. It highlighted innovative examples that contribute to green growth from shipbuilding (“greener ships”), new energy and extractive sectors and explores synergies between existing and emerging ocean-based industries.
Moderator: Christina Abildgaard Marine Bioresources and environmental research, Research Council of Norway; Steering Board Member of the OECD Ocean Economy & |
Panellists:
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Keynote speaker: Reinhard Lüken Managing Director, German Shipbuilding and |
Key policy questions:
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Closing Remarks
Getting the Policies Right on greening the Ocean Economy
12:15-13:00 Room CC4
Governments will play a key role in fostering innovation for greening the ocean economy and strengthening integrated ocean management. This final session provided the opportunity to review policy implications and possible future work for the OECD. Various OECD Directorates working with relevant Committees provided their reactions to the Forum outcomes.
Moderator: Noé Van Hulst Ambassador, Permanent Delegation of the Netherlands to the OECD |
Reponses from OECD Directorates:
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