Our ocean, our future, our responsibility

UN Ocean Conference

The main goal of the upcoming UN Ocean Conference is clear: to speed up action and unite everyone in the effort to protect and use our ocean in a sustainable way. With the health of our seas under growing threat, the conference will focus on finding urgent and practical steps to protect marine life and resources—key parts of what’s known as Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14).

A wide range of voices will be at the table. Governments, the United Nations, scientists, businesses, NGOs, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities—everyone with a stake in the ocean’s future—will come together. They’ll discuss the biggest challenges and most promising solutions for achieving SDG 14, sharing what’s worked, what hasn’t, and what we still need to do to ensure a healthy ocean for generations to come.

"The ocean is fundamental to life on our planet and to our future. The ocean is an important source of the planet’s biodiversity and plays a vital role in the climate system and water cycle. The ocean provides a range of ecosystem services, supplies us with oxygen to breathe, contributes to food security, nutrition and decent jobs and livelihoods, acts as a sink and reservoir of greenhouse gases and protects biodiversity, provides a means for maritime transportation, including for global trade, forms an important part of our natural and cultural heritage and plays an essential role in sustainable development, a sustainable ocean-based economy and poverty eradication."

- Political declaration of the 2022 United Nations Ocean Conference

How SLU contributes:

Researchers at SLU work with several different projects to help achieve SDG 14. Below you find some of them! 

SLU joins global discussions to enhance nutrition-sensitive food systems

SLU researchers investigate how climate effects access to nutritious aquatic foods in vulnerable regions

Department of Aquatic Resources at SLU