Latest content: Commonwealth Blue Charter

New assessment finds Sri Lanka vulnerable to extreme rising temperatures and coastal flooding, and identifies investments and recommendations needed to protect coastal communities 

The Commonwealth Secretary-General has called for a holistic and multi-disciplinary approach to tackle the increasing threat of food insecurity across the world, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict, the climate crisis, and political, social and economic inequalities.

Blog by Dainalyn Swaby, Ocean Youth Outreach Assistant

Guest blog by Paulina Gerstner, Program Director of the Allen Coral Atlas

A new method to swiftly assess the climate vulnerability of island and coastal communities has been successfully trialled in Barbados, Kiribati and Sri Lanka.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC, made a powerful plea for ocean action today at the United Nations Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal.

Antigua and Barbuda has announced its intention to join the Commonwealth Blue Charter Action Group on Mangrove Ecosystems and Livelihoods, emphasising that the coastal forests are vital to mitigating and building resilience to the harmful impacts of climate change.

Today, at the Commonwealth Blue Charter Champions and Partners Strategy meeting at the 2022 UN Ocean Conference, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced its support for the Commonwealth Blue Charter Project Incubator, a new effort to help governments develop and implement high-impact pilot projects to reduce threats to the ocean and improve community resilience.

A new initiative launched today in the margins of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, will support Commonwealth ocean states in cultivating and scaling-up projects that protect the marine environment while also tackling climate change.

In case you missed it:  

Small island nations are calling for strengthened global support for ocean and climate change action, just days before Commonwealth leaders convene in Kigali, Rwanda, to decide on the group’s priorities for the next two years.

Multiple stressors on the ocean, including overfishing, marine pollution and climate change, are threatening life under water as well as on land, but global efforts to protect the ocean are underway.

A new 3-minute video released on Her Majesty The Queen's Platinum Jubilee takes viewers around the Commonwealth, and underscores the importance of cooperation to protect the ocean.

By Muhammed Badamasi and Idongesit Amba, Commonwealth Correspondents

The Pacific Partnership on Ocean Acidification (PPOA) is a four-year collaborative project between the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme SPREP, the University of the South Pacific (USP) and the Pacific Community (SPC) with the goal of building resilience to ocean acidification in the Pacific Islands.

By Sushma R, Commonwealth Correspondent

By Chukwuebuka Nnabugwu, Commonwealth Correspondent

By Muhammed Badamasi and Chimaobi Omeye, Commonwealth Correspondents

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has called for the international community to prioritise funding for ocean action, to address challenges such as rapidly depleting fish stocks, dangerous levels of plastic pollution and disappearing coral reefs.

By Idongesit Amba and Chukwuebuka Nnabugwu, Commonwealth Correspondents

A recent scoping mission to Antigua and Barbuda will advance plans to establish a Centre of Excellence for Oceanography and the Blue Economy (COBE) for the Caribbean region.