The Secretary General declared that, out of complacency, mankind was now facing a ” ocean emergency “and that the tide had to turn.
This year’s conference is set to build on the discussions at the first oceans conference held in 2017 at UN headquarters in New York. Its main objective was to take stock of all the problems facing the ocean. Like the first conference, the one in Lisbon, co-organized by Kenya and Portugal, is linked to Sustainable Development Goal 14 – to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”.
