Minister Calls for Simpler Ocean Governance System

Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Matthew Samuda, has called for a simpler, coordinated ocean governance system that serves people living by the sea.

Participating in the Solutions Dialogue on Ocean Action and Leadership at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York, on September 22, he highlighted that the ocean is one system that should have rules that operate to protect it in that way.

Speaking on behalf of fishers, coastal families and small island nations whose lives are closely connected to the sea, Minister Samuda said the world does not lack ocean agreements, noting that the challenge is making them work together on the ground.

“Communities do not experience climate change separately from biodiversity loss. Our fishers do not experience ocean warming separately from changes in marine ecosystems and fish stocks,” he said.

“Our governments cannot effectively address coastal resilience separately from food security, tourism, infrastructure, and economic development. Yet the international system often asks us to respond to these interconnected issues through separate processes, separate reporting requirements, and separate financing mechanisms. This is one of the disconnects I believe we must address,” Minister Samuda added.

He said the solution is not more bureaucracy but improved collaboration among already established institutions.

“This is where we believe the UN system can continue to add greater value. Firstly, we need greater coherence at the level of national implementation. In Jamaica, we use a National Council on Oceans and Coastal Zone Management, where we bring all institutions together. We suggest that this is a route that should be followed by other nations,” Mr. Samuda said.

He also called for reduced paperwork for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and funding that rewards projects delivering multiple benefits, including mangrove restoration, which simultaneously protects coastlines, wildlife and communities.

“A mangrove restoration programme, for example, can deliver climate adaptation, biodiversity protection, and coastal resilience, but our financing architecture must become better at recognising and financing these multiple benefits,” Minister Samuda explained.

He further urged the UN Secretary-General to bring the system together, citing Jamaica’s National Council on Ocean and Coastal Zone Management (NCOCZM) as a model for other nations.

“The Secretary-General can use his convening authority to bring these systems together in ways that individual treaties and institutions cannot readily do on their own. As such, Jamaica would support stronger practical coordination across the UN system, focused on implementation, rather than creating another bureaucracy and negotiating process,” Minister Samuda said.

“If we were designing international ocean architecture afresh, we would start with the ocean rather than the institutions,” he added.

Minister Samuda invited officials to Jamaica’s hosting of the 13th Our Ocean Conference, to be held in Montego Bay, St. James, in June 2029.