Liliana Rodriguez Cortes (Delegate of the IOI to the UN in New York) represented the IOI at the Opening, Plenary and Interactive Dialogue of the UN Summit of the Future held at the UN Headquarters in New York City.
During the Opening, held on Sunday 22 September, world leaders adopted a Pact for the Future that includes a Global Digital Compact (GDC) and a Declaration on Future Generations (DFG). 143 Member States voted in favour of this Pact, which represents “the culmination of a years-long process to adapt international cooperation to the realities of today and the challenges of tomorrow.”
The Summit provided an opportunity for world leaders to “forge a new international consensus on how we deliver a better present and safeguard the future.” following the growing realisation that today’s global and national realities are challenging the ability of all to fulfil the 2030 Agenda in the face of emerging challenges such as ocean health, climate change, security, human rights and inclusion, finance, and technology. The importance of a healthy and secure ocean for sustainable development was mentioned by several world leaders during their remarks, a few also emphasising the severity of the impacts of sea-level rise.
The Pact contains precise and clear Actions that world leaders have committed to making a priority; the Actions seek to address categories of front-line issues under headings of: sustainable development and financing for development; international peace and security; science, technology and innovation and digital cooperation; youth and future generations; transforming global governance.
The Pact recognises the high-level interlinkage between healthy ocean ecosystems and sustainable development throughout various Actions. But, importantly, in recognising that international peace and security are necessary cornerstones of sustainable development, Governments also placed a specific emphasis on the need to address threats to maritime security and safety. Action 22, the only ocean-specific Action of the Pact, recognizes that “All efforts to address threats to maritime security and safety must be carried out in accordance with international law, including particularly as reflected in the principles embodied in the Charter of the United Nations and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, taking into account other relevant instruments that are consistent with the Convention.” To achieve this, Governments have decided to enhance international cooperation at all levels of governance and to promote the sharing of information and the building of capacity to detect, prevent and suppress threats to maritime security and safety.
The Pact also includes the GDC and the DFG. The GDC is a recognition of Governments around the world of the “public goods” nature of the digital space, and the need for digital cooperation and regulation including with respect to AI. Through the GDC, Governments also established a roadmap for global AI governance, an AI Scientific Panel, a global policy dialogue on AI, and committed to explore the establishment of a Global Fund for AI capacity building. These developments will be directly relevant to ocean sectors as these are increasingly incorporating advanced technologies and AI in their operations, for example autonomous shipping and aquaculture.
The DFG contains precise proposals and related processes for Governments to “consider future generations and inspire long-term anticipatory governance at the international level.” The presence and contributions of Youths during the Summit were notable, including during the interactive dialogue. Youth representatives clearly expressed their concerns for climate change, and, importantly, how they could contribute to the implementation of the Pact.
The Pact’s clear recognition of the interlinkages between ocean health and sustainable development add momentum to the international ocean agenda, this just ahead of the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference. The strong commitments made to address threats to maritime security and safety also reinforce global efforts to face these challenges head-on; another timely impulse given the rising insecurity in the ocean and the parallel proliferation of blue economy development as a new engine for sustainable development.
It is clear that the Pact belongs to all of us, and the success of its implementation will only be possible through strong and inclusive multi stakeholder collaboration working towards the common agenda, from the local, to regional, to the global. Ocean-related elements of the vision will also require effective ocean governance systems, without which Actions will not be implementable.
The work of the IOI has thus never been more relevant, and the support it provides through its various capacity-building, training and education programmes can make a central contribution to achieving these new Actions and the implementation of the GDC and DFG.
(The IOI acknowledges with thanks the contribution of L Rodriguez Cortes to this article)
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