COP16 FOR CORAL

On track or off course? Achieving the 30x30 target in the ocean
2024-10-28 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Bogota)
Protecting 30% of the ocean is essential to safeguard both our ocean’s diverse ecosystems and human health and livelihoods. In December 2022, governments adopted the Global Biodiversity Framework, with its landmark global target of protecting and conserving at least 30% of land and ocean by 2030 (‘30×30’). With the focus now on implementation, it is essential that countries demonstrate leadership and continue momentum for our ocean by announcing new marine protected areas and enhancing and improving existing protections.
This event will showcase the findings of a new report commissioned by the Bloomberg Ocean Fund and developed in partnership with Campaign for Nature, the Marine Conservation Institute, and SkyTruth. Off track or on course? Assessing progress toward achieving the 30×30 target in the ocean, assesses progress toward the global target of protecting and conserving 30% of the ocean by 2030.
Alongside a discussion of the report’s findings, the event will showcase examples of action and best practice at local and national levels. The aim is to generate momentum and share learning in the implementation of 30×30 in the ocean.
Lead Organisation: Bloomberg Philanthropic Ocean Initiative
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Enabling Nature Markets for Coral Reef Conservation
2024-10-28 13:00 - 14:20
This panel will bring together scientific, financial, standard-setter and practitioner perspectives to explore how rigorous coral biodiversity accounting and monitoring science can and should underpin high-integrity market-based approaches to finance coral reef conservation, such as coral biodiversity credits, stewardship incentives, insurance products and other mechanisms.
Following opening remarks from the Biodiversity Credits Alliance (BCA), Global Fund for Coral Reefs (GFCR) and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (GBRF), panellists from Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, Verra, the Conservation Finance Alliance and Mirova, will discuss and provide examples of the opportunity for Nature Markets to drive private sector investment and empower First Nations Peoples and reef communities to accelerate and scale up coral reef conservation, restoration and adaptation.
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[Invite Only] Forging Coral Reef Resilience - A Now or Never Moment for Action
2024-10-28 15:00 - 17:00
* This event is closed and by invitation only *
The high-level convening will emphasise the urgent need for the acceleration of resilience based strategies to protect coral reef ecosystems. Amidst the 4th mass bleaching, the event will encompass a high-level strategy session to overview needed actions including ecosystem-based approaches and targeted resilience solutions, as well as concrete steps being taken by states, philanthropies and private sector to scale efforts. A segment of the convening will also feature a discussion on the coming 2025 UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) and the significance of coral reefs in its action agenda. Following the main event segments, a networking convening will aim to facilitate collaboration among key stakeholders for coral action.

Coral Reef Monitoring & Evaluation: Insights for Conservation Impacts
2024-10-29 09:00 - 10:30
The Caribbean Chapter of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) is hosting this session to explore how collaborative reef monitoring and effective reporting can drive conservation actions for greater impact. The Caribbean represents 1% of the world’s marine environment but supports 10% of global coral reefs, including the Mesoamerican Reef—the largest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere.
GCRMN Caribbean will launch the first Caribbean Report Card in June 2025 at UNOC 3 in Nice, France. This report will provide data and policy recommendations for countries contributing to the initiative, modelled after the Healthy Reefs Initiative’s work in the Mesoamerican Reef. The 2024 Mesoamerican Reef Report Card may also be launched simultaneously in the four host countries (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras) and internationally at COP-16.
The session kicks off with the launch of the Report Card, followed by a Q&A. It will then cover plans for the 2025 Caribbean Report Card and the outcomes of the October 2024 Data Analysis Workshop in Puerto Morelos, Mexico. Finally, GCRMN and ICRI will discuss global strategies for advancing reef monitoring and conservation efforts.
Lead Organisation: Healthy Reefs for Healthy People
Co-organisation(s): The Regional Activity Centre for the Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife for the Wider Caribbean Region (SPAW-RAC), Mesoamerican Reef Fund (MARFund)

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High Seas Coral Reefs: Important Ecosystems in need of protection
2024-10-29 11:00 - 13:00
This event will feature expert speakers on three critical marine sites that highlight the importance of high seas coral reefs, and the work being done to secure protections through partnerships activated by the Coral Reefs of the High Seas Coalition. This will be a space to showcase the scientific and political work progressing for the Salas y Gomez and Nazca ridges, and the science background for the Saya de Malha Bank in the Western Indian Ocean, and the Atlantic Fracture.
The event will start at 11:00AM with 45min of questions to our panelists, followed by a question an answer section, and concluding with the remaining time used for participants to network, continue this dialogue, and learn more about these special places. Lunch and refreshments will be provided after the panel and Q&A section concludes.

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Ocean-Climate Financing for a Resilient Future: Commonwealth Approaches and Solutions
2024-10-29 13:30 - 14:30
The event will focus on enhancing ocean and climate resilience through building capacity and access to innovative financing solutions for marine conservation. The session will begin with a presentation on key Commonwealth initiatives, spotlighting the Commonwealth’s efforts to promote and finance sustainable ocean governance and conservation, through its Blue Charter initiative and Climate Finance Access Hub.
Highlighted strategies will include data-driven approaches to supporting financing proposals, leveraging public-private partnerships, and the use of innovative financial instruments to fund conservation efforts. The event aims to provide attendees with actionable insights into scaling these models and forming new partnerships that can advance climate resilience, adaptation and biodiversity conservation across the Commonwealth. This session is designed for policymakers, financial institutions, and environmental leaders seeking to foster collaboration and invest in ocean-climate solutions for a sustainable future.
Lead Organisation: The Commonwealth Blue Charter
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Safeguarding Pacific Coral Reefs: Resilience, Restoration, and Sustainable Solutions.
2024-10-29 15:00 - 16:00
The Pacific region is home to approximately 25% of the world’s corals. They are ecologically and socially important for the islands and their people, biodiversity and economies.
Coral reefs are impacted by human-induced threats and large-scale responses to the anthropogenic threats are urgently needed. To prevent Pacific coral reefs degrading further, substantial effort is needed.
This event will feature efforts and approaches undertaken by the Pacific region, practitioners, and partners to safeguard coral reefs. It will be an opportunity to highlight the Pacific Coral Reef Action Plan endorsed by Pacific Leaders in 2021 to ensure coordinate efforts that would result in the overall vision of improving the resilience and health of reef ecosystems in the Pacific islands.

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Let’s Be Nice to Coral Reefs
2024-10-30 11:00 - 12:30
Coral reefs are incredibly rich ecosystems, hosting over 4,000 species of marine life, despite covering only 1% of the ocean’s surface. They are essential for at least 25% of all marine species, with many yet to be discovered.
Beyond their biodiversity, coral reefs play a crucial role in sustaining coastal communities by providing food and acting as natural barriers.
This event brings together experts and civil society advocates to explore pathways to effective protection and conservation solutions for coral reefs, in the context of the upcoming UNOC 2025 in Nice. The session will feature three concise and engaging segments:
Coral Reefs: Guardians of Marine Biodiversity and Coastal Protection
An overview of why being Nice to coral reefs is crucial for marine biodiversity and for the survival of millions of people. Segment will delve into global frameworks supporting their conservation.

Justice for Coral Reefs: Enforcing Protection Against Plastic Proliferation
Featuring the issue of plastic proliferation and its direct impact on reef health, with a discussion on how legal frameworks and enforcement can curb damaging activities.
Bottom Trawling’s Lasting Destruction of Coral Reefs
Segment will highlight the devastating impact of bottom trawling on coral habitats, offering insights into policy interventions and sustainable alternatives.
Lead Organsiation: Let’s be Nice to the Ocean

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Actioning the Blue: A Caribbean 30x30 Vision for the Ocean
2024-10-30 13:00 - 14:30
A SIDS COP 16 Declaration of Action featuring a series of strong political messages to the international community from key Caribbean political leaders and champions that will boldly highlight the urgency of actioning political will to unlock new and innovative opportunities and financing to achieve progress toward GBF targets within the Caribbean region considering our vulnerabilities to the triple planetary crisis that includes biodiversity loss.
A panel featuring finance experts, high level political leaders, donor governments, financial institutions – including representatives from multilateral funds like the GEF, GBF and GCF, and proponents of innovative and sustainable financing mechanism such as conservation trust funds, and regional and region-based implementing agencies exploring gaps, challenges, opportunities, priorities and needs to address mitigating financing access challenges and catalyzing the unlocking of effective financing, particularly addressing ways that SIDS can more effectively leverage the GBF.
Lead organisation: Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF)

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Scaling 30x30 Marine Planning through Subregional Cooperation
2024-10-31 09:00 - 10:30
Preserving the ecological integrity and connectivity of key marine ecosystems is essential to ensuring the long-term benefits the ocean provides to communities and countries. At the same time, conservation efforts need to be equitably governed and integrated into wider seascapes while ensuring the sustainable use of resources is fully consistent with expected conservation outcomes and recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. To this end, it is crucial to effectively conserve areas of particular importance for biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and services through networks of marine protected areas (MPAs) and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs).
With 20 years of existence, the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR) has progressed its joint marine conservation agenda with all four representing countries having already achieved 30% protection of their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). Such success showcases the effectiveness of regional intergovernmental platforms in effectively and collectively advancing national, regional and global conservation targets. Conversely, many MPAs in the Caribbean Biological Corridor (CBC) are coastal and small, with the coverage and effectiveness of marine conservation networks in many countries falling short of the 30% target for their Exclusive Economic Zones, with the sole exception of the Dominican Republic that recently have reached that goal of coverage in marine protection. This situation leaves large and important gaps in the conservation of key ocean ecosystems in this subregion, particularly in remote, deepsea areas. In this context, achieving the 30×30 goal of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) poses a significant challenge, especially for small island nations facing financial constraints.
Despite their particular regional contexts, countries in both regions need support creating enabling conditions for achieving and sustaining the effective conservation and equitable governance of 30% of their marine areas, as this requires substantial resources, including financial support, qualified human resources, technological transfer and development, and the fostering of blue economy skills within communities in order to face common threats such as climate change, illegal fishing, and pollution, which often exceed the capacity of individual governments to effectively address them. Effective conservation of marine biodiversity to meet the 30×30 target requires more than national efforts; it necessitates robust multinational planning, coordination, cooperation and exchange of lessons. Intergovernmental platforms like the Caribbean Biological Corridor (CBC) and the Tropical Eastern Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR), along with Regional Networks of MPA Managers, play a crucial role in achieving the GBF targets, specifically Target 3, by facilitating collaboration, resource sharing, and coordinated action among nations through a South-South cooperation approach.
This event is co-organised with:

The government members of the Caribbean Biodiversity Corridor (CBC) (Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica)
Technical secretariat of the intergovernmental platform of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR)
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
Global Network of MPA Networks/The Ocean Foundation
the Cartagena Convention/UNEP
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway
Oceans5
The Blue Nature Alliance

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Coral Restoration Techniques in Colombia: Join the #EcoRockstar Movement
2024-10-31 11:00 - 12:30
The workshop will begin with an introductory presentation, followed by interactive activities demonstrating coral restoration techniques used in Colombia, and conclude with a discussion. The introduction will highlight the opportunities Corales de Paz has created through citizen science, positioning itself as a leader in promoting best practices in coral restoration and environmental education. We will introduce the Reef Repair and Reef Check EcoDiver programs, showcasing how we’ve built a national network of “EcoRockstars” who are part of the global #GenerationRestoration movement.
Participants will then engage in hands-on activities at three stations. The first will focus on the rope coral nursery technique, sharing management strategies and lessons from the Caribbean and Pacific regions. The second will feature our innovative partnership with Mars Sustainable Solutions, demonstrating the first use of coral reef stars in Colombia as a nature-based restoration solution. Both stations will feature full-scale models to demonstrate each technique. The last station will cover monitoring and out planting methodologies essential for coral reef restoration.
The workshop will conclude with a discussion on the lessons learned from citizen science and restoration efforts, encouraging attendees to participate in future coral conservation initiatives.
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The Global Network of MPA Manager Networks, supporting GBF implementation in coral reef MPAs
2024-10-31 13:00 - 14:30
The event will present the specific value that a Global Network of MPA Manager Networks may have for MPA managers in coral reef areas.
Trough the activity of Regional Networks of MPA Managers, Regional Institutions, National MPA Agencies, Conservation Trust Funds, and Networks of Conservation Trust Funds operating in coral reef regions (all linked to the Global Network) the event will presente different examples on how strategic cooperation and learning exchanges, from local to regional and global levels, contributed to reinforce the partners capacities; and how their join efforts helped to raise awareness and build capacity for effective management of MPAs and resources mobilization.
The specific experiences from coral reef MPAs presented in the event will be a great example, for MPA managers in any other ocean region, about the strategic value of having a permanent global platform for exchanges of practitioners and their networks, providing a strong capacity building framework for 30×30 and other GBF targets’ implementation.
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