The objective of the Fifth edition of the Regional Seas Strategic Directions 2022-2025 is to achieve a diverse, resilient and pollution-free ocean that supports equitable sustainable livelihoods. This includes climate stability, living in harmony with nature, ocean sustainability and operating within planetary boundaries. It also aims to harness progress achieved by the 18 Conventions and Action Plans (RSCAPs) through translation of activities into a coordinated global response to combat key environmental drivers towards a pollution free, resilient and diverse ocean.
The RSSD 2022-2025 provides three overarching purposes:
1. Guide Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans (RSCAPs) activities towards achieving ocean-related components of the three primary global goals of addressing climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, as well as sustainable livelihoods, in particular by working towards achievement UNEP’s Medium-Term Strategy (MTS) 2022-2025 and Programme of Work (PoW) 2022-2023), but also targeting ocean-related components of the SDGs and the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
2. Provide an initial 3-year framework to track Regional Seas Programme (RSP) achievements and the national and inter-regional levels, building a preliminary baseline towards a more robust and impact-oriented set of indicators, and providing comparative reporting to assist RSP reporting as a whole, but allowing for individual RSCAP achievements to be highlighted.
3. Generate information to promote improved advocacy to raise the profile of the RSP within UNEP and UNEA, particularly as an implementing framework for ocean-related goals.
