Decision COP XII/23

The Conference of the Parties,

Impacts of anthropogenic underwater noise on marine and coastal biodiversity

1. Expresses its gratitude to the European Commission for providing financial resources for, to the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for hosting, and to the International Maritime Organization for collaborating in the organization of the Expert Workshop on Underwater Noise and its Impacts on Marine and Coastal Biodiversity (IMO Headquarters, London, 25 27 February 2014);

2. Welcomes the report of the workshop  and notes that there has been a significant amount of research into the impacts of underwater noise on aquatic life over the past few decades, but that there remain significant questions that require further study, with the largest gaps in knowledge relating to fishes, invertebrates, turtles and birds, and additional knowledge gaps relating to the characteristics of major sound sources, trends in the prevalence and magnitude, as well as the intensity and spatial distribution of underwater noise and the potential impacts of underwater noise on ecosystems and animal populations, including implications of cumulative and synergistic impacts of multiple sources of noise and other stressors;

3. Encourages Parties and other Governments as well as indigenous and local communities and other relevant stakeholders, to take appropriate measures, as appropriate and within their competencies, and in accordance with national and international laws, to avoid, minimize and mitigate the potential significant adverse impacts of anthropogenic underwater noise on marine and coastal biodiversity, such as:

4. Invites competent intergovernmental organizations, including the International Maritime Organization, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, and the International Whaling Commission, to take measures within their mandates, if applicable, and to assist States in taking measures, limited to those that are within the mandates of the respective competent intergovernmental organization, to avoid, minimize and mitigate the potential significant adverse impacts of anthropogenic underwater noise on marine and coastal biodiversity, including, where appropriate, giving consideration to the activities set out in paragraphs 3 (a) to 3 (n) above; 

5. Requests the Executive Secretary:

Impacts of ocean acidification on marine and coastal biodiversity

Recalling paragraphs 63 to 67 of decision X/29 and paragraph 23 of decision XI/18 A,

6. Expresses its gratitude to the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for supporting the scientific compilation, coordination and synthesis work for, and to the international experts for contributing to the preparation of a systematic review document on the impacts of ocean acidification on biodiversity and ecosystem functions,  which provides a targeted synthesis of the biodiversity implications of ocean acidification for marine and coastal systems, including information on the less-reported paleo oceanographic research, and welcomes this updated synthesis of the impacts of ocean acidification on marine biodiversity;

7. Notes and expresses its concern that, in waters where pH is already naturally comparatively low (for example, in high latitudes, coastal upwelling regions on the shelf slope and brackish water areas with low alkalinity, such as the Baltic Sea), widespread under-saturation of both aragonite and calcite is expected to develop during the twenty-first century, and that benthic and planktonic calcifiers are among the organisms likely to be affected, as well as cold water corals and the structural integrity of their habitats;

8. Urges Parties and invites other Governments, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, relevant scientific groups, and other relevant organizations, to further enhance their international collaboration to improve the monitoring of ocean acidification, closely linked to other global ocean observing systems, noting that a well-integrated global monitoring network for ocean acidification is crucial to improve understanding of current variability and to develop models that provide projections of future conditions;

9. Requests the Executive Secretary to forward the updated synthesis of the impacts of ocean acidification on marine biodiversity  to Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations and to transmit it to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and to continue to collaborate with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, relevant scientific groups, other relevant organizations, and indigenous and local communities in order to raise awareness of the key findings of the updated synthesis and facilitate incorporating these findings into relevant national strategies and action plans concerning conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity as well as developing relevant research and monitoring programmes at the global, regional and national levels;

Priority actions to achieve Aichi Biodiversity Target 10 for coral reefs and closely associated ecosystems

11. Recalling paragraph 9 of decision XI/18 A, adopts the priority actions to achieve Aichi Biodiversity Target 10 for coral reefs and closely associated ecosystems as contained in the annex to this decision, as an addendum to the programme of work on marine and coastal biodiversity, in order to update the specific workplan on coral bleaching  of the programme of work, and urges Parties and invites other Governments and relevant organizations to implement the activities contained therein, where applicable and in accordance with national capacity and circumstances, for enhanced implementation toward achieving Aichi Biodiversity Target 10; 

12. Requests the Executive Secretary to facilitate strengthening of international and regional cooperation in support of national implementation of the priority actions, as contained in the annex, and to develop a global coral reef portal linked to the website of the Convention and existing global (e.g.,  the International Coral Reef Initiative) and regional initiatives (e.g., the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs and Fisheries and Food Security) to facilitate technical collaboration and voluntary information-sharing on all aspects of sustainable management of coral reefs and related ecosystems;

13. Recalls the findings of the Fifth Assessment Report  of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Working Group II), which states that, with additional warming of 2°C, many species and systems with limited adaptive capacity would be subject to very high risks, particularly Arctic-sea-ice and coral-reef systems, and notes the relevance of Aichi Biodiversity Target 10 in this regard;

14. Recognizing that increased sea temperature also increases risks to coral reefs from pathogens and that there are additional interactions, often synergistic, among all these stressors, urges Parties and invites other Governments and relevant organizations to consolidate and further strengthen current efforts at the local, national, regional and global levels to manage coral reefs as socio-ecological systems undergoing change due to the interactive effects of multiple stressors, including both global stressors (for example, rising sea temperature, the effects of tropical storms and rising sea levels, as well as ocean acidification) and local stressors (for example, overfishing, destructive fishing practices, land-based and sea based pollution, coastal development, tourism and recreational use, etc.), focusing on actions that address, in particular:

15. Recalling paragraph 14 of decision XI/18 A, requests the Executive Secretary, in collaboration with Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations, to facilitate the implementation of the priority actions to achieve Aichi Biodiversity Target 10 for coral reefs and closely associated ecosystems, as contained in annex to this decision, by organizing capacity building workshops and developing information-sharing mechanisms on experiences and lessons learned from various implementation activities;

16. Noting that deep water corals and many other cold-water organisms are also vulnerable to the impacts of ocean acidification but are impacted by additional stressors that are different from those affecting warm water coral reefs, and recognizing the need for further work to identify the location and condition of deep-water corals and to understand the impacts of human activities on these corals, requests the Executive Secretary to prepare, in collaboration with Parties, other Governments and relevant organizations, a draft specific workplan on biodiversity and acidification in cold-water areas, building upon the elements of a workplan on physical degradation and destruction of coral reefs, including cold water corals  and in close linkage with relevant work under the Convention, such as the description of areas meeting the scientific criteria for ecologically or biologically significant marine areas, and with relevant work of competent organizations, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for its work on vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs), and to submit the draft specific workplan on biodiversity and acidification in cold-water areas to a future meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice for consideration prior to the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties;

Marine spatial planning and training initiatives

17. Welcomes the work of the United Nations Environment Programme, including the contributions from regional seas organizations and other competent regional initiatives, and the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the Global Environment Facility, as well as a range of contributing partners, towards strengthening the practical use of marine spatial planning, and requests the Executive Secretary to further expand collaboration with these organizations and other relevant initiatives, in particular the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for its work on vulnerable marine ecosystems, the International Maritime Organization for its work on particularly sensitive sea areas (PSSA), and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for its work on tools for marine spatial planning;

18. Recognizing that marine spatial planning is a useful tool for applying the ecosystem approach to marine and coastal management, and considering the challenges associated with its implementation, requests the Executive Secretary and invites relevant organizations to advance their work on enhancing methods and tools, including monitoring measures, for marine spatial planning;

19. Requests the Executive Secretary to facilitate, through technical training and the information-sharing mechanism on ecologically or biologically significant marine areas, the use of scientific information compiled for the description of areas meeting the scientific criteria for ecologically or biologically significant marine areas to support efforts, at the regional or national level, on the use of marine spatial planning by Parties and competent intergovernmental organizations;

20. Expresses its gratitude to the Government of Japan, through the Japan Biodiversity Fund, for providing financial resources for, the Governments of Senegal and China for hosting, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Environment Programme, the Abidjan Convention Secretariat, Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (Australia), and various other partner organizations for collaborating and providing scientific and technical contributions for the organization of Sustainable Ocean Initiative capacity building workshops for West Africa (4 to 8 February 2013) and East, South and South East Asia (9 to 13 December 2013), and welcomes the capacity building initiatives being facilitated by the Executive Secretary through the Sustainable Ocean Initiative in collaboration with Parties and relevant organizations;

21. Recalling paragraph 20 of decision X/29 and also taking into account paragraph 7 of Article 20 of the Convention, as appropriate, invites donors and funding agencies, as appropriate, to continue to extend support for capacity-building to developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing States, as well as countries with economies in transition, in order to further accelerate existing efforts towards achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets in marine and coastal areas;

22. Requests the Executive Secretary to organize, in collaboration with Parties and relevant organizations, additional capacity building workshops and partnership activities within the framework of the Sustainable Ocean Initiative, to address priority issues identified for respective regions concerning the achievement of Aichi Biodiversity Targets in marine and coastal areas.