12 August 2012: The Yeosu Expo has concluded with the signing of the Yeosu Declaration on the Living Ocean and Coast. The Declaration aims to enhance awareness of dangers faced by the sea, and promote the necessity of international cooperation for turning these challenges into hopes for the future. The Declaration Forum also served as an opportunity to identify practical applications of the Declaration.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, speaking at the Declaration Forum, said the Expo’s closing was also the beginning of a new movement for healthier oceans, and a new push for sustainable coasts, which can be made into engines for green economic growth.

Citing the need to protect the ocean and coast in ways that are scientifically-based, Ban highlighted his creation of a new Scientific Advisory Board, with support from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and other agencies, to strengthen the UN’s work for sustainability sciences. Ban also said that collective stewardship is the path to attaining the Millennium Developments Goals (MDGs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will follow.

Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General, and Wendy Watson Wright, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO-IOC), also spoke at the event. [UNESCO Press Release] [Statement of UN Secretary-General] [The Yeosu Declaration on the Living Ocean and Coast] [Yeosu Declaration Forum Webpage] [IISD RS Story on Establishment of Scientific Advisory Board] [Statement of Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) Director-General]