Question Period Note: Canada’s leadership in ocean governance

What is Canada doing internationally to advance responsible ocean governance and marine conservation?

• Protecting our oceans and marine ecosystems from the threats of pollution, climate change and overfishing is critical to their long-term health.
• Canada advocates for the adoption of the global target to conserve 30 per cent of oceans by 2030 and the successful negotiation of a robust treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity on the high seas.
• Canada plays a leadership role in strengthening regional fisheries management organizations through implementing greater enforcement and more accountable decision making, and developing global norms on responsible fishing. We want to safeguard the sustainability of fisheries for future generations.

• Canada is a member of seven regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), where Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is the government’s engagement lead. Beyond securing Canada’s access to fish stocks managed by these organizations, DFO officials also work to ensure strong and effective management measures, based on the best available science, are adopted. Overall Canada’s objective is to prevent overfishing and activities that could undermine the sustainability of those internationally managed species.
• On December 2, 2020, the Prime Minister endorsed the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy’s Transformations for a Sustainable Ocean Economy: A Vision for Protection, Production and Prosperity, which included support for a global target to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030. This endorsement affirms the Government of Canada’s support towards sustainably managing 100% of Canada’s ocean area by 2025. Canada is currently developing its Blue Economy Strategy to fulfill this commitment.
• The world’s oceans occupy more than 70 percent of Earth’s surface and 95 percent of the biosphere. Oceans, including Canada’s three oceans, continue to face increasing pressures from climate change and human activities. Canada’s full ocean estate, which goes beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to encompass the extended continental shelf, covers a surface area of approximately 7.1 million square kilometers. This represents an area equivalent to about 70 percent of Canada’s land mass. Within the EEZ limit, Canada’s oceans cover a surface area of approximately 5.75 million square kilometers.
• The ecosystem services provided by the biodiversity of the world’s oceans are facing increasing impacts from climate change, species decline and loss, ecosystem degradation and loss, aquatic invasive species, and harmful effects from waste and other pollutants. Canada collaborates nationally with federal, provincial, territorial, and Indigenous partners, and with other maritime nations in international fora to preserve proper ecosystem functions and protect the biodiversity of our oceans for present and future generations.
• Canada is actively engaged in the negotiations to develop a Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) for its adoption at the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15), scheduled to take place in Montreal, December 7-19, 2022. This includes a key mandate commitment of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada to champion and advocate at international meetings for the ambitious global target to conserve a minimum of 30 per cent of land and oceans by 2030.
• Canada is participating in negotiations to advance the development of an international legally binding instrument under the auspices of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). The fifth round of negotiations took place August 15-26, 2022, in New York. In the lead up to this fifth meeting, Canada had undertaken a consultation process to gather and reflect the views of Indigenous partners, non-governmental organizations, and academia. Canada has continued to advocate for an agreement that effectively contributes to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction through measures that are practical, efficient, avoid duplication, and promote an effective use of resources. Canada has also joined the High Ambition Coalition on BBNJ which gathers parties committed, at the highest political level, to achieve an ambitious outcome of these ongoing negotiations.
• In July of 2020, Canada joined the United Kingdom and 24 other countries in launching the Global Ocean Alliance (GOA), a coalition of countries that committed to support the adoption of ambitious ocean action to protect at least 30 per cent of the world’s oceans by 2030 at CBD COP15. Including Canada, to date, 72 countries have now joined the Alliance. Membership in this alliance is a key part of Canada’s advocacy for international action to increase conservation and protection of our oceans by 2030. Through the Alliance, the United Kingdom (UK) also advocates for the inclusion of areas outside national jurisdiction in the delivery of the global target. Both Canada and the UK are seeking an ambitious outcome of the ongoing negotiations on a BBNJ treaty.
• During the visit of President Boric (Chile) to Ottawa on June 6, 2022, PM Trudeau announced that Canada will co-sponsor the Americas for the Protection of the Ocean Declaration. The overall purpose of the Declaration is to establish a regional alliance for collaboration, cooperation and coordination of marine protected areas and other marine conservation measures in the Pacific. This regional collaboration instrument provides an opportunity for Canada to work with Chile to advance global target to conserve 30 per cent of oceans by 2030 and to promote a sustainable ocean economy internationally. Canada signed the Joint Declaration launching the new initiative on June 9, 2022, on the margins of the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles along with Chile, the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
• Canada is hosting the Fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5) in Vancouver from February 3-9, 2023. IMPAC5 will follow the Conferences of the Parties to the United Nations Conventions on Climate Change and Biological Diversity where the global community will negotiate and adopt the next climate targets and biodiversity goals, including Marine Conservation Targets. Therefore, the Congress will provide an opportunity to advance establishment and implementation marine conservation efforts globally.

• Canada works closely with multiple international partners, including the Global Ocean Alliance and co-sponsored the Americas for the Protection of the Ocean coalition of Pacific coastal nations.
• By promoting decisions grounded in science, Indigenous knowledge and local perspectives, Canada upholds its reputation of responsible steward of oceans, while ensuring Canadian views and interests are duly reflected.