Panama, Greece, and Republic of Korea to Host Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Our Ocean Conferences

You are subscribed to East Asia and the Pacific for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. Panama, Greece, and Republic of Korea to Host Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Our Ocean Conferences 08/01/2022 07:06 PM EDT Office of the Spokesperson The United States welcomes the Republic of Korea's (ROK) recent announcement that it will host the 10th Our Ocean Conference (OOC) in 2025.  The U.S. Department of State convened the first-ever OOC in 2014, and, in the time since, the annual conferences have resulted in more than 1,800 commitments, worth nearly $108 billion, to protect ocean health and security.  The ROK's announcement, made last week in Lisbon, Portugal, comes as Panama prepares to host the eighth OOC in 2023 and Greece prepares to host the ninth OOC in 2024. The ocean touches every aspect of our lives.  It regulates our climate and weather, generates approximately half of the planet's oxygen, and provides food and livelihoods for billions of people.  Yet the health of the ocean is under threat.  Human activities, such as overfishing and plastic pollution, are harming ocean ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.  At the same time, greenhouse gas emissions are driving the climate crisis and an ocean crisis. Started by the U.S. Department of State and sustained by a growing community of international hosts and global commitments to action, the Our Ocean Conferences bring together governments and non-state actors to make concrete commitments to protect ocean health and security.  The seventh Our Ocean Conference, hosted earlier this year by Palau and the United States, was the first Our Ocean Conference to be held in a Small Island Developing State.  The conference concluded with more than 400 commitments worth more than $16 billion across the six issue areas of the conference:  climate change, sustainable fisheries, sustainable blue economies, marine protected areas, maritime security, and marine pollution. For media inquiries, please contact climatecomms@state.gov. Stay connected with the State Department: External links found in this content or on Department of State websites that go to other non-Department websites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.    Update your subscriptions, modify your password or email address, or stop subscriptions at any time on your Subscriber Preferences Page. You will need to use your email address to log in. If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please contact subscriberhelp.govdelivery.com. This email was sent to ignoble.experiment@arconati.us using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: U.S. Department of State · 2201 C Street NW · Washington, DC 20520