{"id":29985,"date":"2026-11-04T16:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T21:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/?p=29985"},"modified":"2026-11-05T09:25:20","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T14:25:20","slug":"cop31-we-need-for-a-greater-sense-of-urgency-backed-by-firm-national-commitments-for-ocean-climate-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/2026\/11\/04\/cop31-we-need-for-a-greater-sense-of-urgency-backed-by-firm-national-commitments-for-ocean-climate-action\/","title":{"rendered":"COP31: We Need a Greater Sense of Urgency Backed by Firm National Commitments for Ocean-Climate Action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
By Tony MacDonald, UCI Senior Ocean Policy Fellow<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\"COP31<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The COP31 United Nations Climate Change Conference opens in Antalya, T\u00fcrkiye, on Nov. 9 with the ocean higher on the agenda than ever before. Turning that agenda into actual action, including making real progress on the financing and accountability needed to achieve carbon reductions, remains a major challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Turkish Presidency’s Action Agenda<\/a> makes \u201cOceans and Seas\u201d one of its 10 priorities. Focus areas include resilient coasts and marine ecosystems; supporting oceans and blue carbon in national determined contributions (NDCs) and climate plans; and ocean observation, data sharing and regional cooperation. While at COP31, I will be participating in the Nov. 13 side event panel \u201cTurning the Tide: Ocean Climate Action and NDC Integration.\u201d The panel is being organized with my colleagues at the Global Ocean Forum<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One important strategy endorsed by the 2025 U.N. Ocean Conference declaration and COP30’s Ocean Action Agenda that is under discussion at COP31 is the development of sustainable ocean plans (SOPs). Many nations have joined the High Panel for Sustainable Ocean Economy to call for development of management plans for 100 percent of national waters by 2030.  While the U.S. has unfortunately withdrawn from the COP21 Paris Agreement, it has long been and continues to be a leader in sustainable ocean planning that could serve as a model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2010, the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute (UCI) has worked with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean<\/a> (MARCO), a partnership of five coastal states working with federal agencies, in developing and implementing its 2016 Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan<\/a> and continued collaborations to inform and streamline decisions, reduce ocean use conflicts, and support conservation. These collaborative efforts are supported by the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data Portal<\/a>, which provides government agencies and the public access to thousands of map layers depicting fishing grounds, navigation activity, shipping lanes, habitats and conservation areas, proposed development activities, and much more. It is important that we continue to support these regional efforts in the U.S. and, where possible, export the lessons learned, including developing and providing comprehensive mapping, data, and characterization; encouraging effective, efficient governance that is shared across jurisdictions; and building public trust across diverse groups of ocean users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many coastal and island nations need sustained capacity building to gather data, write plans and attract investment. The Ocean Panel analysis puts the investment needed for a sustainable ocean economy at $383-$717 billion. There is concern, however, that the aspirations of ocean-climate action and pledges far outpace financial commitments and lack the necessary political will and support needed to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Globe<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You don’t need to be in to Antalya to take part in COP31. The COP31 Virtual Ocean Pavilion<\/a>, organized by the Global Ocean Forum and partners with support from the UCI, is a free online hub running Nov. 2\u201320. It offers live and on-demand events, exhibits, key ocean messages and a tracker of ocean events at COP31. I urge you to register, join the conversation and track progress as the negotiations unfold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tony MacDonald, UCI Senior Ocean Policy Fellow The COP31 United Nations Climate Change Conference opens in Antalya, T\u00fcrkiye, on Nov. 9 with the ocean higher on the agenda than ever before. Turning that agenda into actual action, including making real progress on the financing and accountability needed to achieve carbon reductions, remains a major challenge. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":29988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29985"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30009,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29985\/revisions\/30009"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/uci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}