Session Description
Ocean governance is the shared set of laws, policies, institutions and knowledge systems through which societies decide how the ocean is used, protected and passed on. It sits at the centre of some of the most consequential impact assessment questions of our time. The BBNJ Agreement is moving into implementation. Cumulative effects from shipping, tourism, fisheries, coastal development and deep-sea mineral exploration are compounding faster than most assessment systems were designed for. Marine plastics and pollution cross every jurisdiction. Climate change is redrawing baselines, from El Niño-driven variability to sea-level rise and marine heatwaves. And practitioners are being asked to integrate One Health thinking, Indigenous and local knowledge, and community-led monitoring into decisions that used to be made on project boundaries alone.
Ocean governance is only as effective as the coordination behind it — within and beyond Exclusive Economic Zones, resource owners, across sectors, partners and between the science, the data and the decision. This open paper session takes stock but also looks into the future of Ocean Governance in the Pacific and beyond. Looking back, what have five decades of impact assessment data and practice taught us? Looking forward, how are new data-collection and analysis methods — from satellite monitoring of dark vessels to open-source geospatial tools — reshaping what we can assess, and how? How is impact assessment being reimagined for areas beyond national jurisdiction, area-based management, cumulative marine effects, coastal and island ecosystems, and climate-informed development?
Session Summary
Ocean governance connects law, science, data and knowledge across boundaries. This open paper session asks what five decades of impact assessment have taught us and how new instruments, data methods and coordinated approaches — BBNJ, cumulative effects, climate risk, One Health — can shape a blue future.
Session Chair
Jope Davetanivalu
Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP)
Samoa