The Chair of GESAMP attended the third LMEs consultation held in Cartagena from 18 to 20 Sepbember 2019. The consultation's overall objective was to provide a global forum for GEF-funded and other actors in the field to share experience and build alliances for collaboration in ecosystem based governance and management in order to meet SDG14.
The Chair attended in several capacities and was supported by the UNDP GEF Oceanic Fisheries Management project of the South Pacific. He had the opportunity to present 'GESAMP at 50', to explain how the Group works and to suggest new scope for its work especially in relation to management advice.
The contribution of GESAMP in the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development was discussed at length and the Chair notified participants of the establishment of a Correspondence Group to fulfill this objective. Given the extensive interest generated on the issue of the Sargassum a special side event was organized to inform those interested on GESAMP's work on the 'Causes and impacts of massive accumulations of the brown macro-algae Sargassum in the nearshore environment of the Caribbean and West Africa'.