Promoting Sustainable Ocean Economies and International Partnership –An International Webinar Video Message–

The “High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy,” comprised of world leaders from 14 countries, including Japan, and 15 Special Envoys of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, was established in 2018 to stimulate the economy through the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean. The “Ocean Panel’s Policy Recommendations: Promoting Sustainable Ocean Economies and International Partnership” international webinar was hosted to widely publicize the summit report released as a product of the Panel’s work. This article is the video message delivered by Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide for the international webinar.

Prime Minister Suga delivers a video message at the December 3rd, 2020 international webinar, “Ocean Panel’s Policy Recommendations: Promoting Sustainable Ocean Economies and International Partnership.”

We, the leaders of the 14-member ocean states of the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, have released a leaders’ document entitled “Transformations for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.” It is the first attempt to formulate a leaders’ statement by the High-Level Panel that comprehensively addresses the issues of conservation and sustainable use of the ocean.
We would like to express our profound respect to Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway and President Tommy Remengesau Jr. of the Republic of Palau for their leadership. Japan has now adopted its 4th Basic Plan on Ocean Policy, which is aligned with the leaders’ statement, and is making efforts towards building a sustainable ocean economy.

Under this plan, Japan is committed to sustainably managing the ocean areas under its jurisdiction in order to ensure that future generations can benefit from flourishing ocean resources. We plan to further advance these efforts. To realize a sustainable ocean economy, we must take ambitious actions toward mitigating climate change, such as through leveraging ocean-based renewable energy. My administration has declared that by 2050 Japan will aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero and realize a carbon-neutral society. By accelerating a virtuous cycle of the economy and the environment through innovation, and capitalizing upon the potential of the ocean, such as through offshore wind power generation, Japan will lead international efforts to achieve the decarbonized world aimed at by the Paris Agreement.

In our view, collaborating with the international community on the issue of marine plastic litter is also indispensable toward facilitating ocean conservation. Japan launched the “Osaka Blue Ocean Vision” at the G20 Osaka Summit last year. The Vision aims to reduce additional pollution by marine plastic litter to zero by 2050. To realize this Vision, Japan will actively tackle this problem with relevant partner organizations, such as the International Environmental Technology Centre of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP-IETC) headquartered in Osaka and facilitate technical assistance to developing countries.

It is my hope that this leaders’ document will serve as a compass toward building a sustainable ocean economy and lead to concrete actions in passing on our flourishing ocean resources to future generations.

*Explanatory Note: The High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Figure 1) was established in 2018 under the leadership of the Norwegian government to tackle a variety of ocean issues verging on crisis, such as depleting fishery resources, rising ocean temperatures, and increasing marine plastic litter, as well as to stimulate the economy through the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean. The Panel is comprised of world leaders from 14 countries and United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, including: Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide who replaces former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide joined the High-Level Panel as a member in the autumn of 2020. The outcome of the 3 years of activities was synthesized as a policy recommendation document and released as a leaders’ statement on December 2, 2020 (https://www.oceanpanel.org/ocean-action/transformations.html).

In order to widely disseminate the leaders’ statement, on December 3, 2020, the international webinar “Ocean Panel’s Policy Recommendations: Promoting Sustainable Ocean Economies and International Partnership” was co-organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and The Ocean Policy Research Institute, The Sasakawa Peace Foundation in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Palau and the Embassy of Norway in Japan (for a summary of the event, see https://www.spf.org/opri/en/blogs/event-report/20201215.html).

The above text is based on the video message delivered by Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide for the international webinar, with editorial adjustments by OPRI-SPF.

Figure 1: Members of the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy
(Excerpt from the document of the Secretariat for the High-Level Panel)