[Title] CHARLEVOIX BLUEPRINT FOR HEALTHY OCEANS, SEAS AND RESILIENT COASTAL COMMUNITIES

The health of our oceans and seas is critical to the economic, social and environmental well-being of the planet. Oceans and seas play a fundamental role in the global climate system and in supporting communities, jobs and livelihoods, food security, human health, biodiversity, economic prosperity and way of life.

Oceans and seas; however, are facing many challenges. Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and overexploitation of fish stocks threaten entire species and food security. Marine pollution, including from plastic litter, is compounding the threats facing already degraded marine ecosystems. As set out in The Charlevoix G7 Summit Communique, ocean warming, acidification and sea-level rise, together with extreme weather events, are affecting communities globally. Arctic and low-lying coastal communities, particularly Small Island Developing States (SIDS), are among the most vulnerable.

We, the Leaders of the G7, underscore the importance of engaging and supporting all levels of government to develop and implement effective and innovative solutions. We will promote collaborative partnerships and work with all relevant partners, in particular local, Indigenous, remote coastal and small island communities, as well as with the private sector, international organizations and civil society to identify and assess policy gaps, needs and best practices. This path forward will support the leadership and empowerment of women and youth as agents of positive change.

Recognizing the direct impact of global temperature rise on oceans, with this Blueprint we are pursuing global efforts towards a sustainable and climate-resilient future, in particular reducing emissions while stimulating innovation and economic growth, enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to the impacts of climate change while ensuring a just transition to the broad participation of women and girls, both at home and in our commitment to support developing countries.Footnote1

Recognizing the need for action in line with previous G7 commitments and the 2030 Agenda, which sets a global framework for sustainable development, we, the Leaders of the G7, commit to:

Resilient Coasts and Coastal Communities

1. Support better adaptation planning, emergency preparedness and recovery: We will work in partnership across multiple sectors to identify and assess policy gaps, vulnerabilities, risks and needs, and share lessons learned and expertise. We encourage the development of coastal management strategies to help plan and build back better, including through standards, best practices and provisions to rebuild natural and physical infrastructure, as appropriate. Our efforts will support resilient and quality infrastructure in coasts and coastal communities, particularly in SIDS. This will include advancing the development and deployment of clean and resilient energy systems, including from renewable sources. Where appropriate, we will advocate for and support nature-based solutions, such as the protection and rehabilitation of wetlands, mangrove forests, seagrass beds and coral reefs. To protect coastal communities, we will work to increase the capacity of these communities, particularly in SIDS, to generate and communicate effective early warnings of extreme weather and other geo-hazard related risks. To this end, we support early warning systems, including through efforts such as the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems initiative, which aims to build the capacity of Least Developed Countries and SIDS. We will develop gender-sensitive planning strategies that integrate economic growth, adaptation, sustainable development, conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and disaster risk reduction. In ensuring more inclusive, comprehensive approaches, we will support women's equal participation in decision-making for disaster risk reduction and recovery. Looking ahead to a brighter economic future, we will promote income-generating activities in coastal communities, such as sustainable tourism.

2. Support innovative financing for coastal resilience: Mobilize greater support for increasing financial resources available to build coastal resilience, particularly in developing countries, and exploring new and innovative financing with national and international public and private sector partners. To explore these innovative financing approaches and tools, we will build on existing platforms for governments, industry, philanthropists and institutional investors. We will explore broadening disaster risk insurance coverage, including through global and regional facilities, such as the InsuResilience Global Partnership, to extend high quality insurance coverage to vulnerable developing countries and beneficiaries in need and to encourage new types of insurance products for emerging risks. We welcome research, monitoring and gender analysis to increase both the range of insurance products and women's access to financial resources for disaster risk management and recovery.

3. Launch a joint G7 initiative to deploy Earth observation technologies and related applications to scale up capacities for the integrated management of coastal zones: We intend to leverage innovation in the field of Earth observation technologies and related applications and make them broadly available in the poorest and most vulnerable regions of the world in order to support disaster risk prevention, contingency planning, spatial planning, infrastructure and building design, early warning systems and risk transfer mechanisms. We ask the forthcoming G7 Ministerial meetings in Halifax to work to present new actions in this area.

Ocean Knowledge: Science and Data

4. Increase the availability and sharing of science and data: Recognizing the value of ocean science, observation and seabed mapping, we will expand global observation and tracking efforts. Through enhanced global monitoring of oceans, and coordinating access to ocean science information, we will significantly improve the availability of data. We encourage the collection, analysis, dissemination and use of gender-sensitive data to bridge gaps in understanding the way women and girls are impacted by risks and catastrophic events, and how they can be engaged in developing and implementing solutions.

Sustainable Oceans and Fisheries

5. Address IUU fishing and other drivers of overexploitation of fish stocks: We will work globally to build stronger public-private partnerships with key countries and technology providers to deploy innovative platforms and technology to identify vessels that engage in, and those that support, IUU fishing. A key effort will be the implementation of unique vessel identification scheme of the International Maritime Organization for all eligible vessels fishing on the high seas. Further, we will strengthen existing regional fisheries networks and launch new networks in needed areas in partnership with INTERPOL and Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs), in accordance with their respective competencies, to share information and best practices, and develop new tools to eliminate IUU fishing. Our partnerships will leverage the agency, leadership and participation of women in developing strategies for marine conservation through inclusive planning and implementation, capacity building and improved access to information for women. We will also work to address the myriad of other challenges facing sustainable fishing, including by: promoting global adoption and implementation of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate IUU Fishing, including through supporting capacity building on effective implementation of the Agreement; promoting coordinated action to address forced labour and other forms of work that violate or abuse human rights in the fishing sector that can also be related to IUU fishing; prohibiting harmful fish subsidies that contribute to overfishing and IUU fishing and collectively addressing this through effective disciplines in the World Trade Organization (WTO); supporting the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Catch Documentation Schemes; and promoting innovation for fishing gear design and recovery to prevent its loss or abandonment. We will also support the implementation of the Global Record of Fishing Vessels, Refrigerated Transport Vessels, and Supply Vessels by providing our Phase 1 vessel data as soon as possible.

6. Support strategies to effectively protect and manage vulnerable areas of our oceans and resources: We will advance efforts beyond the current 2020 Aichi targets including, the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) where appropriate and practicable and contribute towards these objectives, the sustainable management of fisheries and the adoption of marine spatial planning processes. We will further advocate for the creation and implementation of effective and science-based MPAs and area-based conservation measures, in close alignment with relevant international frameworks, including in the high seas. We acknowledge efforts to develop an effective and universal international legally-binding instrument under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction in line with resolution UNGA 72/249.

Ocean Plastic Waste and Marine Litter

7. We recognise the urgency of the threat of ocean plastic waste and marine litter to ecosystems and the lost value of plastics in the waste stream. We commit to building on previous G7 commitments and taking a lifecycle approach to plastics stewardship on land and at sea, moving towards a more resource efficient and sustainable management of plastics. Further, we will promote the harmonization of monitoring methodologies for marine litter and collaboration on research on its impacts, in cooperation, for example with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to facilitate this work.

We ask Ministers to further elaborate on this work at their meeting in Halifax. Footnotes

Footnote 1

The United States strongly supports heathy oceans, seas and resilient coastal communities. The United States has announced its intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, and reserves on the climate related language in the Blueprint.