The 2019 Our Ocean conference, hosted by Norway and held in Oslo, resulted in commitments from countries, organisations and industry to the value of over EUR 6 billion, to galvanize the global response to the threats facing the ocean including illegal fishing, overfishing, plastic pollution and climate change.

A total of 370 commitments were made at the conference, which was initiated by former U.S. secretary of state John Kerry in 2014 and has run annually ever since. This year, 500 people from more than 100 countries attended, as well as 100 youth delegates. By bringing together international leaders to share knowledge and experiences, and to commit to action for healthier oceans, Our Ocean focuses global attention for global action.

Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Søreide, in her opening address stated that, “Loss of diversity, marine pollution, climate change, over exploitation of resources are just some of the challenges we are all facing. It’s our common responsibility to reverse these trends.”

His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon of Norway emphasised the important international role of Norway as a coastal nation to promote cleaner, healthier oceans. Commenting on the global connectedness of the ocean he said, “Our connectedness is alarming as it shows how vulnerable we all are, as actions in one part of the world affect people on the other side of the planet. This underlines the need for global cooperation in all areas related to the ocean.”

Highlighting the value of the roadmap created by the United Nations sustainable development goals, he stated, “In them is the opportunity to choose a better tomorrow for our children. And for ourselves for that matter. But the progress on reaching the goals is too slow. We need to speed up. We are all here to do just that.”

Per Erik Bergh of Stop Illegal Fishing, commented, “Our Ocean provides an international spotlight on tackling ocean issues that are so fundamental to the health and well-being of our world. We hope that the calls for urgent action, and the financial commitments made here can be translated into tangible action in the communities already most disadvantaged by ocean threats.”