This year’s UN Ocean Conference was held in Lisbon from June 27 to July 1, 2022. This panel was an official side event to the Conference, it was held entirely remotely and was available to all interested participants, whether or not registered for the 2022 UN Ocean Conference.
This side event highlighted the efforts of partner international organizations, financial institutions, and academia undertaken individually and jointly to strengthen ocean governance through capacity building. It showcased the various courses and capacity building programs offered by the side event organizers in relation to the law of the sea and the blue economy.
The principles of sustainable ocean management are enshrined in a number of global and regional frameworks. Limited understanding of these frameworks may undermine their implementation at regional and national levels, which in turn undermines healthy blue natural capital and the livelihoods of communities that depend on the ocean and related ecosystems.
In addition to the training programs delivered by each partner organization individually, the event featured the jointly organized Ocean Governance Capacity Building Training Program, financed by PROBLUE and convened by the World Bank’s Environmental and International Law Practice Group in collaboration with the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations (DOALOS), the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Melbourne Law School (MLS), and the Center for Maritime and Oceanic Law at the University of Nantes (CDMO).
The side event included short presentations from the partner institutions outlining their joint Ocean Governance Capacity Building Training Program as well as their other training initiatives. Attendees learned about the trainings’ contents, target audience, ways to sign up, and reflections from alumni of the Training Program. The side event also included a moderated discussion about the role of capacity building in promoting sustainable ocean management and the blue economy.
Remi Moncel, World Bank
Remi Moncel is Senior Counsel in the Environmental and International Law Practice Group of the World Bank. He advises World Bank colleagues and member countries on international and natural resources law and policy, including ocean- and blue economy-related issues.
Francois Bailet, DOALOS
Francois Bailet is a Senior Legal Officer at the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea of the Office of Legal Affairs Unit of the United Nations where he oversees the Capacity-Building and Trust Funds Unit of DOALOS, coordinates the Maritime Security Cluster as well as the marking of World Oceans Day by the United Nations System. He also works with developing States on building sustainable ocean-based economies within their ocean governance frameworks.
Blaise Kuemlangan, FAO
Blaise Kuemlangan is Chief of the Development Law Service of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). He leads his team of legal specialists to deliver FAO’s assistance work in food and agriculture law. Specialising in the Law of the Sea and fisheries law, he supports countries to enhance legislation on fisheries management, monitoring, control, surveillance and enforcement.
Talatu Akindolire, ISA
Talatu Akindolire is a Legal Officer at the Office of Legal Affairs in the International Seabed Authority, Kingston, Jamaica. She is a qualified lawyer with over 14 years of legal experience. Prior to joining the Authority in 2018, she worked at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Nigeria as a principal legal officer within the International and Comparative Law department, under the international trade, ocean, and maritime law divisions. She obtained her master’s from the University of Southampton, United Kingdom, and has written and published papers on international trade and ocean law.
Margaret Young, MLS
Margaret Young PhD, LLM, BA, LLB (Hons) is a Professor at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne. Her award-winning research spans public international law, the law of the sea, international trade law, climate change, and environmental law. In 2021, she was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.
Martin Ndende, CDMO
Martin Ndende is Professor of Law and Director of the Maritime and Oceanic Law Centre (CDMO) at the University of Nantes in France. An internationally recognized expert with 30 years of experience, Professor Ndende specializes in commercial law, the law of the sea, and maritime transport.
Moderated by Christina Leb, World Bank
Christina Leb works as Senior Counsel at the Environment and International Law Practice Group of the World Bank where she advises on public international law and environmental law with a focus on ocean and freshwater governance.
