Countries Seek Ocean Roadmap at COP31 as Marine Heat Breaks Records

Record-breaking ocean temperatures are weakening the world's largest carbon sink, prompting a group of countries to push for meaningful commitments to protect marine ecosystems at the UN COP31 summit. Experts warn that this effort could be hindered by a shrinking pool of climate finance.

## Addressing Ocean Protection African countries, the European Union, some Latin American nations, and small island states have launched a bid for COP31 to incorporate ocean protection measures into negotiated decisions. COP31 co-presidents Türkiye and Australia are working with interested countries on a voluntary ocean roadmap, described as a concise action plan that will include regional and international steps to integrate measures to safeguard the planet's ocean and climate.

At a meeting in Türkiye in September, governments will consider how to incorporate the recommendations of the informal UN ocean dialogues into global climate policy. Whitney Berry, associate director of climate policy at the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy, said that even an informal multi-year plan could help guide the ocean dialogues series in the UN climate process towards more concrete results.

## The Impact of Marine Heatwaves Influenced by this year's projected super El Niño on top of climate heating, the world's oceans have experienced the warmest July on record, according to both EU and US monitoring data. Scientists are warning of severe mass die-offs of key species like corals, sponges, and macro-algae. John Bruno, a marine ecologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told journalists that some organisms like coral reefs can only tolerate an increase of about 1 degree Celsius before they start experiencing health declines.

## Challenges in Implementing Ocean-Based Targets Measures to protect marine ecosystems have gathered more attention in recent years, with 90% of national climate plans submitted last year including at least one ocean-based target, compared to 62% in 2015. However, countries have faced challenges implementing these commitments due to finance and governance constraints. Most of the current targets focus on protecting marine areas, but have so far lacked commitments to reduce emissions produced at sea, for example through offshore wind or cleaner maritime transport.

The African Group of Negotiators has called for a structured, multi-year roadmap aligned with the next Global Stocktake, while the EU has backed this roadmap proposal. Pacific islands and some Latin American countries have supported incorporating the dialogue outcomes into the negotiations without specifically endorsing the roadmap initiative. As part of a preparatory event before COP31 focused on oceans, Türkiye has confirmed plans for a Blue COP31 roadmap, which will be discussed by the ministers attending the gathering in September.