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To find a more sustainable solution for people who depend on the ocean for survival.
Brennan Harris

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The world's oceans - their temperature, chemistry, currents and life - drive global systems that make the Earth habitable for humankind. How we manage this vital resource is essential for humanity as a whole, and to counterbalance the effects of climate change.

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This source shows you what the goal of the UN is, why it matters, what they are doing to fix it, and how you can help. Jordan Smith

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This is another source that tells you about the efforts made to conserve the ocean and to help those who rely on the ocean and marine life.

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Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development - SDG Indicators

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Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development - Sustainable Development Goal Indicators

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This source shows the progress that has been made for Goal 14 in 2017 and 2016.
Brennan Harris

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Progress of goal 14 in 2016

Oceans, along with coastal and marine resources, play an essential role in human well-being and social and economic development worldwide. They are particularly crucial for people living in coastal communities, who represented 37 per cent of the global population in 2010. Oceans provide livelihoods and tourism benefits, as well as subsistence and income. They also help regulate the global ecosystem by absorbing heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and protecting coastal areas from flooding and erosion. In fact, coastal and marine resources contribute an estimated $28 trillion to the global economy each year through ecosystem services. However, those resources are extremely vulnerable to environmental degradation, overfishing, climate change and pollution. The sustainable use and preservation of marine and coastal ecosystems and their biological diversity is essential to achieving the 2030 Agenda, in particular for small island developing States.

Pollution of both land and seas is a threat in many coastal regions. In addition, since river basins, marine ecosystems and the atmosphere are all part of hydrological systems, the effects of such pollution are often felt far from their source. In many coastal communities, pollution and eutrophication, which is the presence of excessive nutrients in water, frequently owing to runoff from the land, causing dense plant growth and the death of animal life, are driving detrimental changes. The five large marine ecosystems most at risk from coastal eutrophication, according to a global comparative assessment undertaken in 2016 as part of the Transboundary Water Assessment Programme, are the Bay of Bengal, the East China Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the North Brazil Shelf and the South China Sea.

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the ocean has absorbed about one third of the carbon dioxide released by human activities, thereby mitigating the full impact of climate change. However, this comes at a steep ecological price, as dissolved carbon dioxide in seawater lowers the pH level of oceans, thereby increasing acidity and changing the biogeochemical carbonate balance. Concerns about ocean acidification, first expressed in the early 1980s, have now been confirmed, and the extent of its impact on marine ecosystems is being investigated.

Fisheries contribute significantly to global food security, livelihoods and the economy. However, if not sustainably managed, fishing can damage fish habitats. Ultimately, overfishing impairs the functioning of ecosystems and reduces biodiversity, with negative repercussions for sustainable social and economic development. In order to achieve a healthy balance, fish stocks must be maintained within biologically sustainable limits, at or above the abundance level that can produce maximum sustainable yields. Based on an analysis of assessed stocks, the percentage of world marine fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels declined from 90 per cent in 1974 to 69 per cent in 2013. Fortunately, the downward trend has slowed and appears to have stabilized since 2008.

Biodiverse marine sites require safeguarding to ensure sustainable long-term use of their precious natural resources. Globally, in 2014, 8.4 per cent of the marine environment under national jurisdiction (up to 200 nautical miles from shore) and 0.25 per cent of the marine environment beyond national jurisdiction were under protection. From 2000 to 2016, the share of marine sites around the world that are designated as key biodiversity areas and are completely covered by protected areas increased from 15 per cent to 19 per cent.

Source: Report of the Secretary-General, "Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals", E/2016/75

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Goal 14 .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform

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Progress of goal 14 in 2016 Oceans, along with coastal and marine resources, play an essential role in human well-being and social and economic development worldwide. They are particularly crucial for people living in coastal communities, who represented 37 per cent of the global population in 2010.

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This source shows Goal 14's targets. The target by 2030 is to increase the economic benefits "from the sustainable use of marine resources" to small islands and developing countries. The source also gives facts and information about the ocean and marine life.
Brennan Harris

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By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution

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The Way Forward for Reducing Marine Pollution

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The Way Forward for Reducing Marine Pollution

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This source shows the specific factors that affect the ocean and marines in a negative way and shows the best ways to get rid of them. Jordan Smith

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The way forward for reducing marine pollution

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The Ocean Conference taking place this June at UN headquarters is a unique opportunity to promote and accelerate action, partnerships, commitment and progress on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, Life below water. The outcome will be a concise, focused, intergovernmentally agreed declaration in the form of a "Call for Action" to support the implementation of Goal 14.

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This source is about what land pollution is spreading to the oceans and also about how the distances of these pollutants affect each marine source. Jordan Smith

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The world's coastal waters and oceans are deteriorating due to increasing coastal development, marine litter, excess nutrients, untreated wastewater and other pollution threats. EPA helps shape U.S. Government positions on international marine pollution issues with U.S. government agency partners, national governments in other countries, international organizations, among others, to ensure that international decisions and management of marine pollution issues support EPA's mission: To protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment - air, water and land -upon which life depends.

EPA works to reduce marine pollution in different ways. For example, EPA is working with governments in Latin America and the Caribbean to help them develop and implement national action plans on marine litter. EPA also works with State Department and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to fulfill US obligations under the Cartagena Convention, which focuses on reducing land-based sources of marine pollution through the Land-Based Sources Protocol and protecting biodiversity through the Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife Protocol.

Learn more about EPA efforts to protect the global marine environment:

EPA Efforts to Address the Global Marine Litter Problem

Marine litter is a significant problem in the world's oceans. The 80% of marine litter stemming from land-based sources is largely a result of insufficient solid waste management. Plastic waste is a major component of marine litter. While the US can do better in preventing and reducing marine litter and plastics, many countries around the world require massive improvements in solid waste management to address this problem.

Uncollected waste is a major source of land-based marine litter. It is estimated that less than 50% of waste in the least developed countries is collected, and approximately 90% of waste is burned or ends up in open dumps. The amount of uncollected and mismanaged waste entering the oceans has significantly worsened in the past decades, causing increased economic and environmental damage. In particular, the plastic waste harms physical habitats for wildlife, transports chemical and nutrient pollutants, and interferes with human uses of river, marine and coastal environments.

EPA is working to address marine litter globally through international policy engagement and international actions and projects to reduce and prevent marine litter. EPA has also developed an International Marine Litter Toolbox that includes guides for countries to use in addressing marine litter and improving solid waste management.

Learn more about EPA's International Actions to Address Marine Litter.

Addressing Land-based Sources of Marine Pollution

Land-Based Sources Protocol for the Wider Caribbean Region

EPA led the negotiations for the Protocol Concerning Pollution from Land-Based Sources and Activities (LBS Protocol), which was signed in 1999 in Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, and entered into force in 2010 at the Cartagena Convention. The LBS Protocol is a legally binding protocol to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean (Cartagena Convention).

The Wider Caribbean Region includes those countries that border:

eastern Florida south of 30 north latitude,

the Straits of Florida,

the Gulf of Mexico or

the Caribbean Sea.

The seaward boundary of the region is the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone of each country.

EPA joined the US delegation at the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the LBS Protocol (LBS COP 1), which took place on October 24, 2012 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. EPA continues to play a leadership role for the U.S. government in projects under the UNEP Caribbean Environment Programme.

The United Nations Environment Programme/ Caribbean Environment Programme (UNEP/CEP) is the Secretariat for the Cartagena Convention as well as the three Protocols: Land-Based Sources (LBS) Protocol; Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife; and, Protocol Concerning Pollution from Land-Based Sources and Activities.

In addition to staff in Washington, DC, EPA staff in the Caribbean Environmental Protection Division provide expertise and coordination with countries of the Wider Caribbean Region. The Office of International and Tribal Affairs also coordinates with experts in EPA's Gulf of Mexico Program on pollution prevention issues.

The LBS Protocol incorporates the following general obligation to address land-based sources of pollution in the Wider Caribbean Region:

Each Contracting Party shall, in accordance with its laws, the provisions of this Protocol, and international law, take appropriate measures to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the Convention area from land-based sources and activities, using for this purpose the best practicable means at its disposal and in accordance with its capabilities.

EPA is the U.S. government technical focal point for the implementation of the LBS Protocol, which focuses on two key issues: domestic sewage (wastewater) and agricultural non-point source (nutrient) pollution.

For further information on EPA's involvement with the LBS Protocol, see Cartagena Convention and Caribbean Environment Program.

Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities

The Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities (GPA) is designed to be a source of conceptual and practical guidance for national and/or regional authorities to devise and implement sustained actions to prevent, reduce, control and/or eliminate marine degradation from land-based activities.

On November 5, 1995, the GPA was adopted at an intergovernmental meeting in Washington, DC. The aims of the GPA are:

preventing the degradation of the marine environment from land-based activities by facilitating the realization of the duty of States to preserve and protect the marine environment. [The GPA] is designed to assist States in taking actions individually or jointly within their respective policies priorities and resources, which will lead to the prevention, reduction, control and /or elimination of degradation of the marine environment, as well as to its recovery from the impacts of land-based activities. Achievement of the aims of the Programme of Action will contribute to maintaining and, where appropriate, ensuring the protection of human health, as well as promoting the conservation and sustainable use of marine living resources.

The recommendations and principles contained in the GPA are used to focus policy decisions, regional initiatives and international cooperation to protect human health and marine environmental resources.

Reducing Pollution from Ships

Antifouling Paints

EPA's Office of International and Tribal Affairs (OITA) led an interagency working group negotiating U.S. policy and then helped negotiate on behalf of the U.S. for the global antifouling treaty that was developed at the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The treaty was completed in October 2001 and legally entered into force in 2008.

Additional information is available on Antifouling Systems section the official website of the IMO.

Air Pollution

EPA is leading U.S. Government efforts to address air pollution from ships including discussions at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) relating to MARPOL 73/78 Annex VI and greenhouse gas emissions from ships. EPA coordinates closely with the State Department's climate office and the U.S. Coast Guard.

For more information on this topic, visit the Air Pollution section of the official website of the IMO.

Ballast Water Discharges

EPA is a member of an interagency working group for the U.S. delegation to IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC). The committee is currently engaged in the implementation of a global treaty for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments that is intended to reduce the introduction of harmful aquatic species. Although this Convention has not yet entered into force, EPA works with others to assess proposals for IMO approval of ballast water management systems that may be employed on international shipping.

Ocean Dumping

The Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (commonly refered to as the London Convention) was signed in London in 1972. Article I of the London Convention states:

Contracting Parties shall individually and collectively promote the effective control of all sources of pollution of the marine environment, and pledge themselves especially to take all practicable steps to prevent the pollution of the sea by the dumping of waste and other matter that is liable to create hazards to human health, to harm living resources and marine life, to damage amenities or to interfere with other legitimate uses of the sea.

In 1996, a Protocol was developed to amend the London Convention to ban ocean disposal of radioactive wastes and incineration at sea. Article II of the 1996 Protocol defines the objectives of this amendment as:

Contracting Parties shall individually and collectively protect and preserve the marine environment from all sources of pollution and take effective measures, according to their scientific, technical and economic capabilities, to prevent, reduce and where practicable eliminate pollution caused by dumping or incineration at sea of wastes or other matter. Where appropriate, they shall harmonize their policies in this regard.

Additional information on EPA's involvement with the London Convention.

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Protecting the Global Marine Environment | US EPA

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The world's coastal waters and oceans are deteriorating due to increasing coastal development, marine litter, excess nutrients, untreated wastewater and other pollution threats. EPA helps shape U.S. Government positions on international marine pollution issues with U.S.

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WaterAid is a nonprofit organization that started over 30 year ago to help people get access to clean water. They have helped over 20 million people.
Brennan Harris

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The leading clean water non-profit, tackling the water crisis, founded 1981. 28+million people reached so far! | WaterAid US

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Clean water saves lives. Our mission is to equip people with sustainable clean water (and decent toilets and hygiene education). We were founded in 1981 and have reached 28.1 million people with clean water, 28.8 million people with decent toilets and 26 million people with hygiene education so far.…

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This source gives more information on water pollution, what it is, what causes it, etc.
Brennan Harris

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Water Pollution: Everything You Need to Know

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Our rivers, reservoirs, lakes, and seas are drowning in chemicals, waste, plastic, and other pollutants. Here’s why―and what you can do to help.

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What is the goal?
What are the targets?
What has been done already?