Informal welcome drink between the winners of the BeMed micro initiatives call of the previous years and the administrators of the association.

THE MONACO BLUE INITIATIVE IS A UNIQUE PLATFORM FOR DEBATE THAT BRINGS TOGETHER MAJOR PLAYERS IN OCEAN CONSERVATION AND GOVERNANCE TO REFLECT ON THE KEY CHALLENGES FACING OUR FUTURE OCEAN, IN A CONCRETE AND FORWARD-LOOKING WAY.

Representatives of Governments, international organizations, civil society, NGOs, the private sector, the scientific community and the media meet every year to explore and promote synergies between the protection of the marine environment and the development of a truly sustainable blue economy.

The results and recommendations of the MBI are brought to high-level international discussions and negotiations on ocean protection and governance, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the negotiations on Marine Biodiversity in Areas beyond National Jurisdiction and the International Marine Protected Areas Congress.

Programme: Welcome address and keynotes speeches.

Session 1 :The need for a new bold vision for Ocean conservation: raising the ambition in the face of emerging challenges. Building on successes and failures in Ocean conservation and major challenges to come, panelists will reflect on what is needed to step up ambition for Ocean protection in the next decade and beyond.

Session 2 : Ocean protection — everyone’s business. Building on best practices and success stories to scale up the sustainable blue economy. This session will explore how it is in every company’s interest, even if not directly connected to the ocean, to contribute to the protection and the sustainable use of ocean resources, keeping in mind that beyond the protection of 30% of the ocean by 2030, 100% of the ocean needs to be sustainably managed.

Session 3: Blue finance: how to accelerate the transition to an Ocean-positive economy? This session will explore how to channel and scale up financial investments towards Ocean protection, and sectors and businesses with a positive impact on the Ocean.

Ocean Updates  This edition will also include updates on the BBNJ negotiations, the 5th International Marine Protected Area Congress, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) negotiations, as well as on recent progress related to the protection of the Mediterranean Sea, notably through the Barcelona Convention.

Team Malizia is a professional sailing team that uses their sport platform to create awareness about ocean health and the climate crisis while doing ocean research to help the scientific community on the exploration of the big blue planet. The team was founded by Pierre Casiraghi in 2016 and skippered by German sailor Boris Herrmann, the yacht has an on-board oceanbox that collects ocean data which is directly transmitted to the teams’ scientists. The team also developed an education programme called ‘My Ocean Challenge’ which aims to inspire and educate the next generation about climate change and climate solutions.

www.borisherrmannracing.com

BeMed supports island-based projects to fight against marine plastic litter. 18 months after the beginning of the programme, first results are ready to be shared by modular projects’ representatives, and to be included to the Blue Print the IUCN-Med will publish on plastic pollution on Med islands. The aim is to create synergies with related regional initiatives and other participants to achieve a long-term impact in reducing plastic pollution at sea. The session is organised by the IUCN-Med and the BeMed-Islands capitalisation process, led by SCP/RAC and SMILO.

Sharing of experiences between the 2021 laureates of the 2020 call for micro-initiatives and some laureates of previous years. Through this meeting, BeMed wishes to facilitate and amplify the projects in progress.

This 48-hour workshop will bring together 20 international scientists to lay the groundwork for a scientific report on “Plastics and Global Health”, which aims to increase the understanding of scientists, policy makers and civil society on how the uncontrolled production of plastics and the unregulated disposal of chemically-laden plastic waste is harming the planet, fouling the oceans, damaging the ecosystems that support all life on earth, and ultimately causing human illness, disability and premature death in countries around the world.