The Global Blue New Deal

During World Oceans Week 2021, SOA's Youth Policy Advisory Council officially shared their first Global Blue New Deal (GBND) public draft to the world. This collaboratively developed policy document is a living representation of hundreds of youth perspectives and priorities sourced from SOA's international Young Ocean Leaders network.

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Read the Global Blue New Deal in Indonesian, Portuguese, Spanish, German, or French

The Global Blue New Deal is a living document, and we welcome ongoing feedback. We welcome comments from youth, scientists, policymakers, and other ocean stakeholders—please share your feedback here.  Feedback forms are also available in Spanish, French, Indonesian, German, and Portuguese.

 

WATCH NOW: During the Global Blue New Deal Public Workshop on World Oceans Day 2021 , YPAC Chair Mark Haver and YPAC Secretary Leonie Meier presented the GBND and how it came to be.

About the Global Blue New Deal

There is no future without understanding the role that the ocean has to play in it: emphasizing youth ocean issue priorities is essential as we re-envision the relationship between our communities and our planet for generations to come.

The Global Blue New Deal was inspired by the youth voices advocating for climate action through the Green New Deal, Global Climate Strikes, and Fridays for Future protests. While the climate conversation may be headline news, ocean news is neglected.

To end this cycle of neglect and decline, SOA staff and the Youth Policy Advisory Council collected more than 100 surveys from SOA's global youth network—in five languages across 38 countries. The goal was to understand the key youth policy priorities around the globe for building the ocean we need for the future we want.

We since have identified four main pillars that address key ocean health priorities in our Global Blue New Deal:

Low Carbon Future: Address the Climate Emergency
Preserve Biodiversity: Apply Nature-based Solutions to Promote Healthy Ecosystems and Climate Resilience
Sustainable Seafood: Strengthen Sustainable Seafood to Match Increasing Global Demand
Stakeholder Engagement: Include Youth and Local Communities in Natural Ocean Resource Management

Read all about the story behind the Global Blue New Deal from YPAC's Chair, Mark Haver.

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Key Facts & Figures

Youth based all over the world have contributed to this extraordinary collaborative effort:
  • SOA’s Youth Policy Advisory Council—a cohort of 15 early career ocean professionals from nine global regions—led this effort.
  • 101 surveys in five languages across 38 countries informed the focus areas of the Global Blue New Deal.
  • 11 researchers from eight countries drafted four pillars and 18 sub-pillars, which are supported by 170+ references.


The Global Blue New Deal is making headlines around the world:

EurekAlert!

AllAfrica.com

Inter Press Service

Global Issues

The Street Journal

Coastal News Today

7thSpace

Scienmag Science Magazine

Bioengineer.org

 

Take Action

 

Sign our open letter to the attendees of the Youth4Climate: Driving Ambition Summit, UN Climate Change Conference of Youth (COY 16), and COP 26:

"We, as global youth represented by Sustainable Ocean Alliance’s Youth Policy Advisory Council, call on the international community to recognize our ocean climate action demands. 

While youth activism through the Green New Deal and Global Climate Strikes have made climate action headline news, there remains a big, blue problem: who’s talking about the ocean?

Youth recognize the crucial role the ocean plays in keeping us alive: our ocean regulates our climate and provides food, oxygen, and ecosystem services essential to our well-being. The USD$3 trillion ocean economy also supports more than 250+ million livelihoods (UN DESA). 

Our ocean faces many challenges, but the greatest threat is the lack of political will behind ocean action. In 2018, a survey found that SDG 14: Life Under Water was prioritized least by global leaders, even though it has profound impacts on achieving SDGs on hunger and climate. 

As youth, not only do we need to advocate for the SDGs, but we also need to hold the global community accountable to the commitments they have made between each other and to future generations, who remain the greatest stakeholders in the health of our environment. 

That’s why we are calling on you to endorse and champion the Global Blue New Deal, our youth-led, globally crowdsourced, ocean policy agenda. 

Our Global Blue New Deal is organized into four pillars, where we outline our priority policy action needs. Our pillars are:

  1. Low Carbon Future: Address the Climate Emergency
  2. Preserve Biodiversity: Apply Nature-based Solutions to Promote Healthy Ecosystems and Climate Resilience
  3. Sustainable Seafood: Strengthen Sustainable Seafood to Match Increasing Global Demand
  4. Stakeholder Engagement: Include Youth and Local Communities in Natural Ocean Resource Management

With this open letter, we, as global youth, are calling on you to act now, especially at critical, upcoming ocean and climate conferences.

Specifically, we urge you, as delegates:

  • At Youth4Climate and COY 16: address the Global Blue New Deal in Ministerial-level discussions and include the Global Blue New Deal in the policy report to the UN Climate Negotiations.
  • At COP 26 and moving forward: consider, integrate, and adopt the policy actions highlighted in our Global Blue New Deal. "

 

Join the Global Blue New Deal Coalition: Help us amplify our youth ocean agenda, and join our impact and mobilization community. Together, we can build a healthy ocean and a just future for all.JOIN US

 

Learn about SOA's Youth Policy Advisory Council here. For questions or press inquiries, contact us here.