Progress report for
Local Governments for the Oceans
Achievement at a glance
The Life Below Water 2017 Conference was held in Malm 11-13th October 2017 bringing together 250 delegates from four continents to inspire, learn, debate and drive action at a local level for the marine environment. The conference, opened by Mayor Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh, featured inspiring keynote addresses from NGOs, cities, academia and business as well as Swedens Minister for the Environment, Karolina Skog. Crown Princess Victoria also participated in the conference before inaugurating the new Marine Education Centre at the beach in Malm. Technical visits at sea and on land inspired dialogue seminars on diverse topics such as Sustainable Marine Food, Sustainable Vessels and Ports and Plastic Pollution in the Ocean. The conference highlighted the complexity and interrelated thematic challenges linking our activities on land to a range of threats to the ocean environment. The links with work in cities for circular resource management, sustainable food systems, waste management, climate mitigation and adaptation were just some of the most obvious connections. The conference focused heavily on the opportunities presented for economic development through improved management and use of our ocean resource, creating local jobs and making local economies work for marine protection. The city of Malm and ICLEI took the findings of the Conference to COP23 in Bonn in November 2017 at the Ocean Day to highlight the strong interlinkages between climate change and the marine environment. In December 2018 the City of Malm, together with UNESCO IOC and the World Maritime University, hosted a thematic conference on the topic of Ocean Literacy bringing together 100 delegates from ca 20 countries. The City of Malm will take part in the 2020 UN Ocean Conference with the ambition to host a side-event on the topic of Ocean Literacy. At the conference ICLEI and the City of Malm will announce the programme for the ICLEI World Congress which will be held in Malm in April 2021.Beneficiaries
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