Marine Regions Forum: Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, 2019, Berlin, Germany

The Forum will provide a major opportunity to hear and meet high level speakers, actors of marine regions and key stakeholders from all over the world.

What are prevalent and emerging ocean issues, after the IPCC special report on the ocean and the cryoshpere (to be published on 25th September, just after the UN Climate Action Summit)?

What role can marine regions play to achieve a healthy ocean?

From the Pacific to the Baltic, from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, what are the best practices and innovative solutions implemented in marine regions?

The Marine Regions Forum 2019 aims to develop clear recommendations, catalyse actionable outputs and build partnerships for stronger regional ocean governance, making a timely contribution to the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The outcomes of the Marine Regions Forum 2019 will feed into key ocean governance policy processes both regionally and globally, in particular the 2020 UN Ocean Conference.

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To get an accreditation for the plenary sessions (overview below), please send an email to:

[email protected]

, subject: ‘Marine Regions Forum”.

Congress venue: Vienna House Andel’s Berlin, Landsberger Allee 106, 10369 Berlin

Press contact in Germany:

Matthias Tang

Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. (IASS, Potsdam)

Phone: +49 (0)331 288 22-340

E-Mail:

[email protected]

As of 18 September 2019

Overview of the speakers at the Marine Regions Forum 2019

Monday, 30 Sept 2019, 10.00-12.00: Welcome and Opening Plenary

Welcome on behalf of conference organizers

Klaus Toepfer, TMG, Think Tank for Sustainability, also on behalf of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), and the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS)

Welcome on behalf of the German government

Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Germany

Video message

Karmenu Vella, Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, European Commission

Key note statement

Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

Opening Panel: Achieving healthy oceans – challenges and opportunities

Brune Poirson, Minister of State, attached to the Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition, France

Antje Boetius, Director, Alfred Wegener Institute – Helmholtz Centre for Polar und Marine Research

David Obura, Director CORDIO East Africa

Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Germany

Tuesday, 1 Oct 2019, 15.00-17.00:

Plenary Ocean Governance post-2020 – The role of marine regions

Key note statement

Hans-Otto Poertner, Co-Chair of Working Group II of the IPCC, Alfred Wegener Institute – Helmholtz Centre for Polar und Marine Research

Video message

Peter Thomson, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean

Panel reflections by

Waldemar Coutts, Ambassador of Chile in Norway and Iceland

David Johnson, Coordinator, Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative (GOBI), Seascape Consultants

Charlotte Karibuhoye, Director MAVA Foundation

Andreas Papaconstantinou, European Commission, Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Head of Unit Ocean Governance, Law of the Sea, Arctic Policy

Kristina Gjerde, Senior High Seas Advisor, IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme

Wednesday, 2 Oct 2019, 13.30-15.30:

Closing Plenary Accelerating progress, creating new pathways

Key note statements

Svenja Schulze, Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Germany

Hon. Bernhard Esau, Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Namibia

Closing panel

Jens Frolich Holte, State Secretary, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Maria Damanaki, Global Managing Director Oceans, The Nature Conservancy, U.S.

Arni Mathiesen, Assistant Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Angelique Pouponneau, Chief Executive Officer, Seychelles

Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust

Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven, Director-General, Global Issues, Federal Ministry for Development and Economic Cooperation, Germany

Official closure of the conference