Everything that is currently happening in marine research and policy-making is based on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This was signed by the leaders of the UN member states in September 2015 and includes 17 development goals. Marine protection is dealt with in Goal 14, which reads: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
The priorities are reflected in ten targets, which set the following objectives:
For four of the targets, the deadline – the end of 2020 – has already passed, with no significant progress being reported. According to a recent UN interim report, the current efforts to protect the marine environment, and the small-scale fishers in particular, are by no means sufficient to conserve the fragile resource that is the ocean. A first interim assessment was to be made at the second UN Ocean Conference, but this was postponed from June 2020 to the summer of 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
United Nations analysts say that the pandemic has demonstrated what it means to live on a planet where nature and the climate are out of balance. It can only be hoped that this experience will further motivate the international community to work together and with resolve towards the realization of the 2030 Agenda. Less than ten years remain.