Future Policy Award celebrates solutions to save oceans and coasts

Hamburg/Montreal/Washington D.C./Rome, 6 June 2012 - The list of nominees for this year's Future Policy Award is complete: 31 outstanding policies from 22 countries and regions are in the running for the best policy worldwide to protect oceans and coasts. The Future Policy Award celebrates policies that create better living conditions for current and future generations. It is granted by the World Future Council, an international policy research organisation that provides decision makers with effective policy solutions. Each year the World Future Council chooses one topic on which policy progress is particularly urgent. In 2012, the award is dedicated to exemplary coastal and ocean policies. The nominated polices range from national ocean policies, marine protected area programmes and integrated coastal zone management plans to policies regulating fisheries, trade in marine products, marine litter and land-sea interactions.

For this year’s theme the World Future Council is partnering with the UN Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with support from the Okeanos Foundation. Ocean experts from international organisations, academia and non-governmental organisations have submitted nominations.  A comprehensive evaluation process is under way and a jury will decide on the winners. The winning policies will be announced at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in September 2012 and celebrated at the 11th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Hyderabad, India in October. Nominations include policies from Australia, the Baltic Region, Belize, Canada, the East Asia Region, Ecuador, the European Union, France / French Overseas Territories, Kenya, Kiribati, Iceland, India, Japan, Mexico, Namibia, Norway, New Zealand, Palau, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa and the United States of America. For more information, visit www.futurepolicyaward.org or www.worldfuturecouncil.org.

Alexandra Wandel, Director of the World Future Council, says: “With the Future Policy Award we want to cast a spotlight on policies that lead by example. The aim of the World Future Council is to raise awareness for exemplary policies and speed up policy action towards just, sustainable and peaceful societies.”

Dr Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), says:  “The ocean world is in all our daily lives. Even for the many millions of people who may not think that they have a strong reliance on oceans, marine ecosystems and wildlife provide all kinds of benefits. The Future Policy Award provides the opportunity to raise awareness of the issue and increase practical action.”

Monique Barbut, CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), says: “Countries are now becoming much more active in restoring and protecting their coastal oceans. Working towards an improvement in the condition of oceans and coasts, we are delighted to partner with the World Future Council in its endeavor to identify and promote adoption of these critical policies."

Árni M. Mathiesen, Assistant Director-General Fisheries and Aquaculture, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), says: "Humanity depends on the sustainable management of the marine environment to realise the Human Right to Food. This is why it is so important to promote policies that successfully address the multiple threats to oceans and the coastal communities that depend on them for their livelihoods."

Notes to Editors

The full list of nominated policies is available here: http://www.worldfuturecouncil.org/fpa2012_nominatedpolicies.html

The World Future Council
The World Future Council brings the interests of future generations to the centre of policy-making. It consists of up to 50 eminent members from around the globe who have already successfully promoted change. The Council addresses challenges to our common future and provides decision makers with effective policy solutions. With its Future Policy Award the Council celebrates the world’s most exemplary national policies that create better living conditions for current and future generations and that produce practical and tangible results. The award topics are chosen on an annual basis. The World Future Council is registered as a charitable foundation in Hamburg, Germany. For more information, visit www.worldfuturecouncil.org. For information on the Future Policy Award, visit www.futurepolicyaward.org. For press enquiries, please contact Anne Reis on
+49 (0) 40 30 70 914-16 or at anne.reis@worldfuturecouncil.org.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

Opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and entering into force in December 1993, the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international treaty for the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of the components of biodiversity and the equitable sharing of the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources. With 193 Parties, the Convention has near universal participation among countries. The Convention seeks to address all threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services through scientific assessments, the development of tools, incentives and processes, the transfer of technologies and good practices and the full and active involvement of relevant stakeholders including indigenous and local communities, youth, NGOs, women and the business community. The tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD, held 2010, adopted a revised and updated Strategic Plan for Biodiversity for 2011-2020, comprising five strategic goals and 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets. The Plan is the overarching framework on biodiversity, not only for the biodiversity-related conventions, but for the entire United Nations system. The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety is a subsidiary agreement to the Convention. It seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology. To date, 162 countries plus the European Union have ratified the Cartagena Protocol. The Secretariat of the Convention and its Cartagena Protocol is located in Montreal. For more information visit: www.cbd.int. For press enquiries, please contact David Ainsworth on +1 514 287 7025 or at david.ainsworth@cbd.int; or Johan Hedlund on +1 514 287 6670 or at johan.hedlund@cbd.int.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF)

The GEF unites 182 countries in partnership with international institutions, civil society organizations (CSOs), and the private sector to address global environmental issues while supporting national sustainable development initiatives. Today the GEF is the largest public funder of projects to improve the global environment. An independently operating financial organization, the GEF provides grants for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants. Since 1991, the GEF has achieved a strong track record with developing countries and countries with economies in transition, providing $10.5 billion in grants and leveraging $51 billion in co-financing for over 2,700 projects in over 165 countries. Through its Small Grants Programme (SGP), the GEF has also made more than 14,000 small grants directly to civil society and community based organizations, totaling $634 million.  For more information, visit www.thegef.org. For press enquiries, please contact John Diamond at jdiamond@thegef.orgor on +1 202 458 7953.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

The goals of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations are to reduce hunger and malnutrition, eliminate poverty through economic and social progress and support sustainable management and utilization of natural resources. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. FAO is also a source of knowledge and information. FAO helps developing countries and countries in transition modernise and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices and ensure good nutrition for all. Since the founding in 1945, FAO has focused special attention on developing rural areas, home to 70 percent of the world's poor and hungry people.

For press enquiries, please contact Tina Farmer at Tina.Farmer@fao.org or +39 06 570 56846 / + 39 340 161 4006 or Irina Utkina at Irina.Utkina@fao.org or +39 06 570 52542 / +39 34 88 967 961.

The Okeanos Foundation

Okeanos funds scientific projects devoted to marine conservation and makes their findings available to the public. The Foundation also aims to render the fascinating wonders of the deep more widely known. For more information, visit www.okeanos-foundation.org.

Photo: http://www.worldfuturecouncil.org/4575.html