Restored ocean will alleviate poverty, provide jobs, and improve health, finds report

"The challenges -- both environmental and socioeconomic -- that confront our oceans have reached a critical level," said Yoshitaka Ota, Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program Director of Policy. "This report demonstrates how ocean sustainability holds the key not only to our future prosperity but also for our survival from a comprehensive science-based perspective."

Developed in preparation for the UN World Ocean Conference, June 5 to 9, this is the first comprehensive report on Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water. The goal outlines seven targets agreed upon by the international community as key to the issues plaguing our oceans -- from eliminating subsidies to minimizing acidification, ending overfishing to creating marine reserves.

"If fish stocks recover and are effectively managed, fisheries are more likely to provide sustainable livelihoods and food, and be more resilient to climate change" said William Cheung, Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program Director of Science. "Sustainable fisheries can help reduce poverty, limit hunger, and contribute to decent work and sustained economic growth by providing employment opportunities and productive fish stocks."

The Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program highlighted linkages between the ocean goal and the other 16 Sustainable Development Goals, developed by the UN in 2015. The report focuses on the challenges of climate change and social equity concerns in achieving ocean sustainability.

"Climate change and social equity issues go hand and hand. The countries that are projected to be the hardest hit are tropical countries, which are mostly developing," said Gerald Singh, Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program Senior Fellow at UBC. "Sea levels are rising and fish are moving to different locations. But populations are also growing and moving towards coasts. Reducing inequalities is at the heart of sustainable development."

The co-benefits of achieving the ocean goal on the other sustainable development goals are wide reaching and not immediately apparent.

"The results may seem surprising, but a healthy ocean can contribute to achieving gender equality," said Ota. "Fisheries activities are quite gendered -- women typically do unrecognized and unrewarded work. Men will go on boats to capture fish that are sent to markets. But women are often collecting the subsistence food."

"A healthy ocean can also mean the difference between malnourishment and a steady supply of high quality protein for vulnerable communities," said Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor, Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program Manager. "The oceans are connected to our lives in many ways. Restoring the oceans isn't just an environmentalist's dream but is vital for employment, well being, livelihoods, and health around the world."