Building Back Bluer through Oceans: Special session at P4G Seoul Summit

The “Building Back Bluer through Oceans” Special Session on SDG 14 “Life below Water” is part of the Green Future Session preceding the P4G Seoul Summit 2021. Effectively tackling plastic pollution and its impacts is dependent on improving urban solid waste management (Goal 11), with a systemic shift toward prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse of plastic products, in line with international frameworks (Goal 12), and also requires addressing wastewater as a vector (Goal 6). Effective partnerships are crucial to mobilize financial resources, capacity building, access to science and technology, and enhanced knowledge sharing to achieve the SDGs (Goal 17).

The Oceans Special Session takes place on 26 May in two parts:

• Session I on Zero Emission Vessels from 18.00-20.00 ICT / 20.00-22.00 KST
• Session II on Marine Plastic Litter from 20.30-22.30 ICT / 22.30-24.30 KST

The Oceans Special Session on marine litter (Target 14.1) is hosted by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea and co-organized with the COBSEA Secretariat. Speakers include the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Inger Andersen.

The Session fosters discussion among governments, businesses, civil society and experts, sharing latest advancements and lessons learned from innovative partnerships, identifying priorities for action and investment, and furthering common goals. The Session’s keynote speakers share their vision for common goals and response options to marine litter issues at national and international levels. They also reflect on the discussions at the 4th meeting of the ad hoc open-ended expert group on marine litter and microplastics (AHEG), a global agreement to strengthen regional coordination and partnerships.

Participants can join the session live in 3 ways:

1. Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official youtube channel
2. 2021 P4G Seoul Summit official youtube channel
3. 2021 P4G Seoul Summit website: https://virtual.2021p4g-seoulsummit.kr/  

The 2021 P4G Seoul Summit positions P4G as a delivery mechanism to build back better and greener in this decade of action. The P4G Summit is held 30-31 May, 2021. The Republic of Korea and P4G unite Heads of State, CEOs and civil society leaders around a shared action agenda to mobilize investments for transformative partnerships delivering tangible SDG and climate action impact. It highlights P4G’s strong and growing pipeline of more than 50 market-based partnerships and provides an opportunity for partnerships within portfolios to share best practices, unlock synergies within their portfolios, and pursue cross-cutting, collaborative solutions to replicate and scale efforts that also progress the SDGs and the Paris Agreement.