Ocean Decade International Coastal Cities Conference

The 1st Ocean Decade International Coastal Cities Conference: join us to build a better ocean for better cities!

Co-hosted by the Qingdao Municipal People’s Government and UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-UNESCO), the 1st Ocean Decade International Coastal Cities Conference will take place in Qingdao, China, on February 26 and 27, 2025.

Building on the momentum and outcomes of the 2024 Ocean Decade Conference, this event will be a key milestone in advancing the newly launched “Cities with the Ocean” Platform and will serve as a significant step towards the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference.

Over the course of two days, this in-person conference will bring together 150-200 stakeholders from coastal cities and territories around the world. The event will provide a platform for knowledge sharing, highlight best practices, and promote collaboration and partnerships to address the challenges and opportunities of using ocean science for sustainable development.

About the First International Ocean Decade Coastal Cities Conference:

Coastal cities are among the world’s fastest-growing urban areas: being at the intersection of opportunity and risk, they stand to benefit greatly from the growth of a sustainable ocean economy while also facing increasing threats from climate change, ocean pollution, and other environmental challenges. The Ocean Decade offers a unique opportunity to leverage ocean science and knowledge to address these issues, strengthen the resilience of coastal cities to global change, and improve the living conditions and well-being of their residents.

To connect key stakeholders from urban coastal areas with the Ocean Decade community, the Cities with the Ocean Platform was launched at the 2024 UN Ocean Decade Conference, alongside the announcement that Qingdao Municipality would host the inaugural Ocean Decade Coastal Cities Conference in 2025.

Being the first Ocean Decade International Coastal Cities Conference, and the first major event for the coastal cities’ community, the conference will aim to unite stakeholders and provide a platform for collaboration and exchange, aiming to:

• Encourage participation from more coastal cities, ports, Decade Actions, and relevant stakeholders, enabling them to support the platform and contribute to its growth and development.
• Promote knowledge exchange and the sharing of experiences on key issues related to the Ocean Decade Challenges, such as climate change, marine pollution, marine biodiversity, the blue economy, and ocean literacy. This will help improve the science-policy-society relationship at local, national, and global levels.
• Highlight best practices in adaptive governance and resource management tools to assess and reduce the vulnerabilities and risks faced by coastal cities.
• Stimulate new partnerships and flagship initiatives, while building on existing collaborations to create synergies that strengthen coastal city resilience and enhance their ability to adapt to evolving challenges.
• Foster consensus among coastal cities, ports, and stakeholders to strengthen partnerships focused on co-designing and implementing science-based solutions and best practices, with a final declaration as a key outcome of the conference.
• Encourage global dialogue to advance the sustainable development of coastal cities, contributing to important discussions on ocean and coastal city sustainability at the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference.

Learn more about the conference and registration.