The Bouknadel Statement
(2022)
Please find an excerpt of the full PDF below
The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation is a proud member of the Foundation’s Dialogue, and signed on to the Bouknadel Statement to encourage a greater investment in marine science from the philanthropic community.
The Foundations Dialogue of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (‘the Ocean Decade’) is an informal, global network of community, corporate and private Foundations that have chosen to work together to support the vision of the Ocean Decade of ‘the science we need for the ocean we want’. The following statement is the result of discussions of the Foundations Dialogue over several months in 2021 and 2022 that culminated in a meeting in Sidi Bouknadel, Morocco, in June 2022 at the Hassan II International Center for Environmental Training, the academic branch of the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection, presided over by Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa, Patron of the Ocean Decade Alliance. The Living Oceans Foundation participated in these meetings and helped to craft the statement below, which was released at the UN Oceans Conference in Lisbon, Portugal on June 30, 2022.
We the members of the Ocean Decade Foundations Dialogue:
Recognize that the ocean underpins the health and wellbeing of people around the world, but that it is facing unprecedented threats that are hindering global aspirations for sustainable and equitable development as embodied in the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals, as well as complementary global and regional policy frameworks including The Paris Agreement;
Acknowledge that relevant, transformative ocean science, technology and knowledge are critical prerequisites to climate action, resilient economies and communities, food and energy security, and ecosystem management and resilience;
Note that despite the past efforts of dedicated partners in philanthropy, industry and government, the physical, financial and human resources needed to conduct ocean science are currently inequitably distributed across the world and suffer from significant under investment;
Welcome the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021 – 2030 as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that has already made significant strides to collectively set priorities for the creation, generation, propagation and use of ocean knowledge to contribute to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and achieve sustainable development;
Assert that we need a paradigm shift in the volume, type and coordination of investment in discovery-oriented, use-inspired and applied ocean science. This shift is required to close the multi-billion dollar investment gap needed to achieve the ambitions of the Ocean Decade via the ten Ocean Decade Challenges and inform sustainable ocean management;
Highlight the fundamental role of the broad philanthropic community to catalyze, incubate, test and accelerate innovative and transformative science and technology; to convene diverse partners across society; and to explore and test emerging areas for financing, investment and debt instruments;
Emphasize the unique opportunity for the broad philanthropic community to increase investments in the co-design; co-delivery; communication, sharing and uptake; and development of capacity related to ocean science and to support the transformation of science to technological solutions needed for sustainable development;
Celebrate the unique opportunities provided by the 2022 UN Ocean Conference hosted by Kenya and Portugal in Lisbon as the largest ever gathering of the philanthropic ocean community at a UN Ocean Conference;
Invite the wider philanthropic community to join forces with us in the Foundations Dialogue in the framework of the Ocean Decade between now and 2030 to:
- Support the co-design; co-delivery; communication, sharing and uptake; and development of capacity for ocean science and knowledge by diverse stakeholders across the world, including those in Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States;
- Collaborate within the philanthropic community and with partners from government, industry, international and regional financing institutions, UnitedNations entities, and others to develop innovative blended financing mechanisms and partnerships to mobilize the resources needed to support existing and future Ocean Decade Actions;
- Commit to longer-term investment in initiatives at multiple scales – from local through to national, regional and global – and across diverse geographies to encourage sustainability, stability and long-term impact;
- Encourage and contribute to open and transparent sharing and publishing of ocean data, information and technology, so that they are accessible to all regardless of age, gender or geography;
- Continue to seek, scrutinize and invest in technology that supports transformative ocean science to achieve sustainable development, and that allows impactful ocean science to be undertaken around the world;
- Advocate and inspire investment in ocean science from funders and partners who have a primary focus on the multiple facets of the 2030 Agenda that depend on improved ocean science and knowledge;
- Expand the reach, impact and diversity of the Foundations Dialogue network; and
- Work hand-in-hand with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO in its role as coordinator of the Ocean Decade to identify, advance and support common investment priorities to achieve the ocean we want by 2030.
