23rd Global Meeting of the Regional Seas Programmes

The annual meeting of Regional Seas Conventions took place in Georgetown, Barbados from 20-23 November 2023.

The meeting shared experiences and lessons learnt on delivery of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Seas Strategic Directions (RSSD) 2022-25 and discussed how regional seas can contribute to the delivery of global ocean initiatives such as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, negotiations on the UNEA Plastics Treaty, the BBNJ Agreement and WOA III. The meeting also discussed strategic engagement with the UN Ocean Conference 2025 to be hosted in Nice, France.

OSPAR Executive Secretary, Dominic Pattinson, gave a summary of OSPAR's main activities since the last meeting and OSPAR’s contribution to UNEP’s Regional Seas Strategic Directions 2022-2025. This included: work under OSPAR's North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy 2030; OSPAR's Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter and the development of further action plans on underwater noise, marine birds, and benthic shelf habiats; OSPAR's network of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) including the extension of its newest MPA in BBNJ; OSPAR's work on Arctic issues; the Collective Arrangement; and the implementation of the BBNJ Agreeement.

This important annual event affords OSPAR the opportunity to showcase OSPAR’s work and to build networks with UNEP and other Regional Seas Conventions.

USEFUL LINKS

Regional Seas Programme | UNEP - UN Environment Programme

Regional Seas Strategic Directions 2022-2025 | UNEP - UN Environment Programme

Twenty-Third Global Meeting of the Regional Seas Programme (unep.org)