This report highlights the impact of the Commonwealth Blue Charter, the landmark agreement by Commonwealth countries to actively co-operate to address the their many ocean-related issues and commitments, between 2022 and 2024. It focusses in particular on how the Charter's 10 Action Groups have tackled ocean-related challenges and advanced sustainable ocean development.
The Commonwealth Blue Charter is an agreement by Commonwealth countries to actively co-operate in addressing the myriad ocean-related issues and commitments they face. There are 49 coastal countries in the Commonwealth, of which 47 are members of one or more Commonwealth Blue Charter Action Groups. These Action Groups are member driven, led by Commonwealth Blue Charter ‘Champion’ countries.
This report serves as a compilation of action under the 10 Action Groups, in the context of wider Commonwealth ocean action, with the aim of highlighting the impact of the Commonwealth Blue Charter.
Since our 2022 report, Commonwealth countries have shown remarkable progress in ocean conservation. For the last two years, members of the Commonwealth Blue Charter, led by 17 co-Champions, have continued with their shared mission to co-operate to tackle ocean-related challenges and meet commitments for sustainable ocean development. Notable achievements in this period have been the Commonwealth Ocean Ministers Meeting (COMM) in April 2024, hosted by Cyprus. During COMM, a roadmap and timeframe were established for the drafting and adoption of a Commonwealth Ocean Declaration at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa during October 2024. Further to this, the period saw the establishment of a Blue Finance Working Group, an Ocean Youth Working Group, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the establishment of the Blue Charter Centre of Excellence in Cyprus, as well as the launch of the Centre of Excellence for Oceanography and the Blue Economy (COBE) in Antigua and Barbuda.
The Commonwealth Secretariat has amplified national ocean action and is working to support Action Groups to scale action by building partnerships, closing the funding gap, training ocean leaders and empowering collective solutions. All countries that participated in the Commonwealth Ocean Action Survey reported that the Commonwealth Blue Charter helped to progress ocean policy or legislation and the majority reported that the Commonwealth Blue Charter allowed them to better interact with external partners.
