Looking forward, the conservation and sustainable use of oceans can be achieved only if we manage to address effectively the threats that oceans face. This requires collaboration at all levels and across many sectors.?? Our future will thus be determined by our collective resolve to share information and find solutions to common problems.? By going forward together, we can ensure that our oceans are peaceful, safe and bountiful, and remain healthy as our blue home.”
— United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres
The United Nations, through its relevant agencies, co-ordinates activities and efforts regarding the world’s oceans through an inter-agency mechanism called UN-Oceans. Along with the United Nations Legal Counsel/DOALOS acting as focal point, UN-Oceans seeks to enhance the coordination, coherence and effectiveness of competent organizations of the United Nations system and the International Seabed Authority, within existing resources, in conformity with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the respective competences of each of its participating organizations and the mandates and priorities approved by their respective governing bodies.
UN-Oceans is mandated to:
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Strengthen and promote coordination and coherence of United Nations system activities related to ocean and coastal areas;
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Regularly share ongoing and planned activities of participating organizations within the framework of relevant United Nations and other mandates with a view to identifying possible areas for collaboration and synergy;
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Facilitate, as appropriate, inputs by its participating organizations to the annual reports of the Secretary-General on oceans and the law of the sea and on sustainable fisheries to be submitted to the Secretariat; and
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Facilitate inter-agency information exchange, including sharing of experiences, best practices, tools and methodologies and lessons learned in ocean-related matters.