The eleventh World Ocean Summit, a leading annual global event on the marine economy, has announced the final speaker line-up for the 2024 event, which will run from Monday, March 11th to Wednesday, March 13th in Portugal at the Lisbon Congress Center. The summit is hosted under the patronage of the President of Portugal and Visit Portugal.
The theme of the two and a half day event, organized by Economist Impact, is “turning the tide to a sustainable ocean economy” with an emphasis on action and how to regenerate ocean health. Leading figures from across the global ocean community, from business to science, government, investors, and civil society, will explore this year’s theme by looking at developments in shipping, finance, investment, climate, cities, energy, pollution, blue food, aquaculture, innovation and governance.
The summit offers a great opportunity for the community to come together again under one roof, to network and build on discussions held at last year’s World Ocean Summit and plan ahead for the forthcoming United Nations Ocean Conference 2025.
More than 200 speakers and over 1000 + attendees are confirmed including governmental and United Nations representatives, and the global ocean community with senior executives from technology, finance, science, and civil society.
Speakers include:
- Sylvia Earle, president and co-chair, Mission Blue
- Fabien Cousteau, aquanaut, oceanographic explorer, environmental advocate, founder, Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center and Proteus Ocean Group
- Patricia Scotland, Secretary-general , The Commonwealth
- Peter Thomson, UN secretary-general’s special envoy for the ocean
- Wendy Schmidt, president and co-founder Schmidt family foundation, Schmidt Ocean Institute
- Angela Ellard, deputy director-general, WTO
- Walter Roban, deputy premier and minister for home affairs, Bermuda
- Markus Müller, chief investment officer ESG, Deutsche Bank
- Catarina Martins, chief sustainability officer, Mowi
- Takeshi Hashimoto, chief executive, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines
- Julie Pullen, partner and chief scientist, Propeller
- Erica Ocampo, chief sustainability officer, The Metals Company
A full list of speakers and agenda can be found here.
The agenda will tackle important issues affecting the whole oceans community including:
- What makes a marine protected area effective?
- Assessing deep-sea mining
- Increasing capacity for restoration and economic development in small island developing states
- One year on from the treaty agreements – what are the implications and what is next?
- Accelerating blue investments
- Creating an enabling environment for ocean science and governance
- Implementing the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies
- Meeting energy demands with offshore wind
- How are industries transitioning to the sustainable ocean economy?
- Finding the economic and environmental balance in blue tourism
- Preparing for United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) 2025
- How to invest better in the blue economy: the metrics that matter
- How to scale marine-ecosystem restoration
- How to increase the impact of marine protected areas (MPAs)
- How to scale the seaweed industry sustainably
Additionally, the agenda features cross-industry sessions to leverage synergies and encourage cross-sector engagement.
In 2024 we will also be running a series of “how to workshops” which will be interactive practical workshops with the aim of creating a set of action points and practical takeaways for individuals and organizations committed to restoring ocean health. We will also reveal the winners of our “Changemakers challenge”, the competition designed to find new and innovative solutions to promote the wellbeing of our ocean.
Additionally, there is a beach cleanup, an interactive innovation session, innovation showcase, a full exhibition hall, roundtables and an exclusive film screening supported by Blancpain We are happy to announce our long-standing partnership with Blancpain will continue in 2024.
Launching at this year’s World Ocean Summit – Economist Impact’s brand new programme “Beyond the Surface”, supported by Blancpain (founding supporter of the World Ocean Summit), takes the audience on a unique deep dive into marine protection via an interactive map that shows where 100 diverse MPAs exist globally and provides in-depth insights into the design, implementation and outcomes of an initial set of 10 key MPAs.
This insightful programme is brought to life using data points, case studies and video snapshots – using scorecard assessments that highlight best practices as well as opportunities for improvements. This topical programme steeped in original research is designed to raise awareness of the importance of MPAs, bringing local issues to life and provoking a global community into positive action.
Economist Impact’s World Ocean Initiative will also be launching a vital research programme aimed at highlighting the often overlooked significance of ocean observations as a critical asset in tackling the myriad challenges confronting our ocean.
The programme estimates the economic value of ocean observation data streams to marine centered climate-change mitigation activities globally. It underscores the potential benefits that could be unlocked through greater accessibility and usability of such data, alongside efforts in talent development, and bolstering public-private synergies.
Other key supporters of the event include the Nippon Foundation in association with our joint Back to Blue Initiative, European Investment Bank, Forum Oceano and Oceano Azul Foundation.
Sponsors and supporters include Oceans Visions, PEW, Ocean Capital 14, Purina Europe, Standard Chartered, Mary Kay, Ava Ocean, Convex Seascape Survey, Everest Labs, Fugro, Sea Technology, Simmons and Simmonds, Syaqua, Protected Seas, Deutsche Bank, Lonely Whale, Ocean Sewage Alliance and Trousdale Ventures.
