Welcome to Verra’s Sustainable Development Download, including updates on Verra’s Sustainable Development Verified Impact Standard (SD VISta), the world’s most advanced standard for projects demonstrating sustainable development impacts
Spotlight on Verra's Coastal Resilience Methodology
Restoring our coastal ecosystems is vital for protecting coastal communities from the impacts of the climate crisis and contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 13 (SDG13): Taking Urgent Action to Combat Climate Change and Its Impacts. Participants at the United Nations Ocean Conference 2022 discussed practical ways for reducing coastal erosion and flooding and stabilizing shorelines faced with rising sea levels.
Verra’s methodology for coastal resilience and wetland protection can quantify a carbon project’s contribution to SDG13. Coastal projects of all kinds – from tidal marshland restoration to mangrove protection – can turn their specific contributions to SDG13 into standalone, tradeable assets, helping to scale up the climate action debated at this year’s UN Ocean Conference. Soon, the methodology will be approved to apply to a wide range of coastal projects, including coral reef restoration.
UN Ocean Conference 2022: Our Top 5 Takeaways
The United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) took place last month, bringing together all 193 UN Member States to unanimously commit to the “Our Ocean, Our Future, Our Responsibility: Lisbon Declaration” to progress Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG14) – Life Below Water – and commit to reversing the decline in ocean ecosystem health.
Sinclair Vincent, Verra’s Director of Sustainable Development Innovation and Markets, gives her top five takeaways from the conference:
1. There Is No Climate Action Without Ocean Action
This year’s conference showed that the role of blue carbon is finally being recognized as a crucial part of the solution to mitigate climate change. As the largest carbon sink in the world, the ocean is a powerful tool for climate action. Blue carbon refers to carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems, and the conservation and restoration of blue carbon ecosystems was recognized in many of the voluntary commitments announced during the conference.
2. The Importance of Ocean Finance
Despite the ocean’s vital role in preserving life on Earth, SDG14 remains the most underfunded of all the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as highlighted by the World Economic Forum’s SDG14 Financing Landscape Scan.
To achieve the commitments made at UNOC, an increase in much-needed private-sector investment into SDG14 will support effective marine and coastal management.
SD VISta helps to close this fiscal gap by driving finance, including from the private sector, toward high-performing projects that advance the SDGs to progress ocean conservation.
3. The Value of Biodiversity
The ocean is home to up to 80% of the world’s biodiversity, yet it faces unprecedented threats from marine pollution and acidification to overexploitation of fish stocks.
The UNOC declaration importantly adopted a call for an “ambitious, balanced, practical, effective, robust, and transformative” Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework to enable the management, protection, and restoration of marine environments, in preparation for the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP15) in December.
4. The Future of Ocean Action
An exciting development at this year’s conference was the inclusion of younger generations’ voices at the Youth and Innovation Forum, a platform to provide the knowledge, tools, and inspiration for young innovators to help progress ocean protection.
Youth-led solutions remain at the forefront of the acceleration to achieve SDG14. We must continue to support the development of young leaders to drive the future of ocean action, as their generations will experience most of the consequences of the outcomes of the UN Ocean Conference.
5. Less Talk, More Action
Finally, the voluntary commitments made by nations at UNOC are a promising demonstration of increasing recognition for ocean protection. However, identifying the actions needed to conserve our oceans is not enough. Countries must follow up on the implementation of these voluntary commitments and work together to advance the discussions at UNOC to transform shared ambition into action to scale up ocean restoration.
Did You Know?
Although coastal wetlands currently cover less than 2% of total ocean area, such ecosystems account for almost 50% of the total carbon stored in ocean sediments!
“This year’s UNOC confirmed that with large-scale investment into ocean restoration, our oceans can go from one of the biggest victims of climate change to our greatest hope for a livable future.”