WOC brings together the diverse ocean business community to collaborate on stewardship of the seas. This unique coalition is working to improve ocean science in support of safe and sustainable operations, educate the public and stakeholders about the role of responsible companies in addressing environmental concerns, more effectively engage in ocean policy and planning, and develop science-based solutions to cross-cutting environmental challenges that cannot be solved by one company or industry, such as: invasive species, ocean noise, marine mammal impacts, marine debris, the Arctic, and others.

The WOC is engaging a wide range of ocean industries, including: shipping, oil and gas, fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, renewable energy (wind, wave, tidal), ports, dredging, cables and pipelines, carbon capture and storage, as well as the maritime legal, financial and insurance communities, and others. A growing number of companies and associations share the WOC vision of a healthy and productive ocean and its sustainable use and stewardship by responsible businesses.

At this event, CTC with partners coordinated a Coral Triangle Session with the objective to raise the interest of a WOC Ocean business leadership group for the Coral Triangle. This led to collaboration between the ocean business community and the intergovernmental Coral Triangle Initiative for Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food security (CTI-CFF) and its partners.

“We have received many emails from participants telling us that they thought the [Coral Triangle session at the] SOS was an excellent, high energy event that brought a diverse group of ocean industry stakeholders together around the key challenges facing the ocean business community in a unique, cross-sectoral context. [This included] complements on the Coral Triangle session specifically and the WOC efforts to build collaboration, input and exchange with the environment community. I believe this experience will provide an example and model that we will try to replicate at the coming SOS or other WOC events and efforts.” Paul Holthus, Founding President and CEO, World Ocean Council.

This forum, attended by 361 participants from the marine tourism private sector, government representatives from the six CT nations, NGOs, universities and associated institutions, focused on: (i) identifying and promoting best practices for responsible marine and coastal tourism; (ii) identifying and promoting the enabling conditions required to support private sector leadership and engagement in sustainable and responsible marine and coastal tourism in the Coral Triangle, and (iii) exploring the branding and marketing of the Coral Triangle as a global sustainable tourism destination. Held in August 2015, the Forum involved: a two day Sustainable Marine Tourism Conference (with guest speakers from both the CT region and around the world); a Coral Triangle Marine Tourism Investment Forum & Buyer-Sellers Market (providing an arena for prospective tourism investors to meet with government representatives and other business representatives to forge sustainable investment cooperation in the Coral Triangle); a Coral Triangle Marine Tourism Expo (showcasing marine and eco-tourism businesses in the region); three high level Roundtable discussions focused on the three forum themes; a Womens Leaders Forum Roundtable; a CTI Maritime Local Government Network (LGN) Executive Committee Meeting; a field trip to Nusa Penida MPA; a Learning Cocktail Event, and a Gala Dinner. A wide range of recommendations for policy makers and regulatory decision makers and next steps emerged from the forum, many of which have since been adopted through the Senior Officials meetings of the CTI-CFF and associated six nation Ministerial meetings.

Read about the outcomes and recommendations of this forum here….

This training workshop brought together about approximately 150 MPA practitioners, government officials and staff of national training institutions across Indonesia and Timor-Leste to learn about: (1) principles that constitute good MPA governance; (2) governance approaches that place MPAs in the Blue Economy; and (3) skills and competencies needed in order to achieve effective MPA management and governance.

This event was hosted by the Agency for Human Resources Development in Marine and Fisheries, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Republic of Indonesia and co-convened by the Blue Solutions program of IUCN and the Coral Triangle Centre (CTC) with support from GIZ, GRID-Arendal, UNEP, IUCN, and UNDP. The workshop focused on the sharing of solutions based learning and best practice approaches. The Nusa Penida MPA and learning site supported by CTC was showcased throughout the event as a headline case study, providing a local context for how inclusive, equitable governance, with benefits for both communities and the marine ecosystem, can be achieved. Other solutions were shared from countries such as Vietnam, Solomon Islands and USA.

This four-and-a-half-day event was hosted by the Government of Indonesia through its CTI-CFF National Coordinating Committee (NCC) and the Coral Triangle Center (CTC), with assistance from the US CTI Support Program (USCTI) and the CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat. It was the third MPA regional exchange organized so far under CTI-CFF, the second regional exchange to focus on MPA network and system design, and the first to substantively deal with the development of a coordinated Coral Triangle MPA System (CTMPAS). It consisted of workshops and expert and case study presentations, and included a visit to a local MPA network. A total of 53 participants, including 14 official delegates from five of the CT6, attended. The event successfully led to the defining of objectives and identification of the initial structure for the CTMPAS, and set in motion the process of developing the CTMPAS framework.