UNEP Regional Seas Programme

The Regional Seas Programme, launched in 1974 in the wake of the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm, is one of UNEP’s most significant achievements in the past 30 years. The detailed explanation of the Programme can be seen in our article posted on BestWritingService.com.

The Regional Seas Programme aims to address the accelerating degradation of the world’s oceans and coastal areas through the sustainable management and use of the marine and coastal environment, by engaging neighboring countries in comprehensive and specific actions to protect their shared marine environment. It has accomplished this by stimulating the creation of Regional Seas programmes prescriptions for sound environmental management to be coordinated and implemented by countries sharing a common body of water.

Today, more than 183 countries participate in 18 Regional Seas Programmes. Six of these programmes, are directly administered by UNEP.

Convention on Biological Diversity

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is an international legally binding treaty that entered into force on 29 December 1993. It has 3 main objectives:

In other words, its objective is to develop national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. It is often seen as the key document regarding sustainable development.

The Convention was opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro on 5 June 1992 and entered into force on 29 December 1993.
2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity. The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity is the focal point for the International Year of Biodiversity.

University of British Columbia, Fisheries Centre

The Fisheries Centre, located at the University of British Columbia, promotes multidisciplinary study of aquatic ecosystems and broad-based collaboration with maritime communities, government, NGOs and other partners. The Fisheries Centre is the focal point for development of the widely-used Ecopath with Ecosim approach and software.

Acknowledgements

Special Thanks

We acknowledge the valuable contributions of: Our Regional Seas colleagues, Abou Bamba, Ahmed Khalil, Ahmet Kideys, Alexander Tkalin, Andrew Wright, Anne Christine Brusendorff, David Johnson, Dixon Waruinge, Ellik Adler, Fernando Felix, Frits Schligemann, Hassan Awad, Hassan Mohammadi, Jacintha Tissera, Jeffrey Kinch, Maria Luisa Silva, Nelson Andrade Colmenares, Parvin Farshchi, Soffia Gudmundsdottir, Ziad Abu Ghararah. CBD, Jihyun Lee. UNEP RONA, Amy Fraenkel, Monika Thiele. UNEP-WCMC, Louisa Wood, Terri Young and Maxwell Gomera. University of British Columbia, Fisheries Centre, Villy Christensen, Sherman Lai, Robert Ahrens, Audrey Valls, Dirk Zeller and Daniel Pauly. Sea Around Us Project. Global NEWS group. UNEP MCEB staff. Also thanks to all the regional consultants that gathered the necessary data for the indicators.