The World Ocean Council (WOC) CEO, Paul Holthus, engaged with stakeholders from business, government, science, environment and other communities at major Arctic events in Tromso, Norway in late January.
At the Arctic Business Council Summit, Holthus outlined the WOC initiative to develop Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets and indicators particularly relevant to Arctic industries.
The specific Arctic business SDG initiative will be developed as part of the broader, ongoing WOC efforts to work with and for the Ocean Business Community on the SDGs. The initiative will build on and complement the formal SDGs that have been adopted by the United Nations. The WOC will work with Arctic Business Council members and other companies to develop relevant, meaningful and practical Arctic Business SDG targets and indicators for sustainable development that enable Arctic businesses to demonstrate and report on implementation of the UN SDGs.
At the Arctic Frontiers conference, Holthus was invited speaker at both the Arctic Environment Forum and Arctic Business Opportunities session.
Participating in panels with government ministers as well as senior business, academic and environment leaders, he outlined the role of WOC in developing programs to advance ocean sustainable development in the Arctic. This includes the WOC Smart Ocean-Smart Industries program, which is working to scale up the use of industry vessels to collect ocean data in areas where information is needed to understand and monitor ocean conditions and change, such as the Arctic.
Upcoming WOC Outreach and Engagement
13 February
NEW YORK CITY: Innovation in Partnerships: SDG 14 Life Below Water Workshop Co-organized by Secure Fisheries, International Peace Institute (IPI), One Earth Future (OEF), Permanent Mission of Sweden to the UN, and WOC (Invited Speaker)
13-14 February
NEW YORK CITY: Inter-Parlimentary Union, Annual Parlimentary Hearing – 2017 Theme: A World of Blue (Invited Speaker)
14 February
NEW YORK CITY: UN Side Event: “The Ocean Business Community: Essential Partner in Ocean Sustainable Development” (Co-organized by WOC, International Chamber of Commerce, UN Global Compact)
15-16 February
NEW YORK CITY: Preparatory Meetiing for UN Ocean Conference (June, 2017) (Invited Participant)
About the World Ocean Council (WOC)
The WOC is the only international, cross-sectoral alliance for private sector leadership and collaboration in sustainability, stewardship and science. Companies from a range of industries worldwide are distinguishing themselves as leaders in “Corporate Ocean Responsibility”, including: shipping, oil and gas, tourism, fisheries, aquaculture, mining, renewable energy, ocean technology, investment.
WOC Members are listed here, a part of the WOC Network of 34,000+ ocean industry stakeholders around the world. The WOC is a registered not-for-profit organization in the US and the UK/Europe.
