Sustainable Development Goal 14

GOAL 14: Life Underwater

Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development:

Oceans cover more than 70 percent of our planet's surface and play a key role in sustaining life on earth. They are the most diverse and important ecosystem, contributing to the global and regional elemental cycle and regulating the climate. The ocean provides natural resources that include food, materials, substances, and energy.
Marine protected areas contribute to poverty reduction by increasing fish catches and income, creating new jobs, improving health and empowering women. Rising levels of waste in the world's seas and oceans are having a significant and growing economic impact.

The oceans, seas and other marine resources are essential for human well-being and social and economic development around the world. Its conservation and sustainable use are essential to achieve the 2030 Agenda, especially for small island developing states. Marine resources are particularly important to people living in coastal communities, who accounted for 37% of the world's population in 2010. The oceans provide livelihoods, subsistence, and benefits from fishing, tourism, and other sectors. They also help regulate the global ecosystem by absorbing heat and carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. However, oceans and coastal areas are extremely vulnerable to environmental degradation, overfishing, climate change, and pollution.

UNEP is working to develop a coherent approach to measuring the condition of the ocean and the drivers, pressures, impacts and responses. This is achieved by promoting the measurement of the ocean SDGs, where UNEP is the custodian, and working to develop an approach for better ocean accounts.

UNEP published a  Global Handbook on SDGs 14.1.1, 14.2.1 and 14.5.1  . This manual also provides details related to how the SDGs align with regional seas.