Day 1 at UN Ocean Conference

Today was my first day at the UN Ocean conference. Specifically this conference works toward fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 which looks towards the conservation of the oceans. I found that this conference is very eye opening in the sense that the ocean connects everyone in so many ways. During the opening remarks of the conference one person said it most perfectly in that the ocean knows no countries and knows no boundaries making it the responsibility of all mankind. I think this is such a true statement because the ocean contributes to so much of life from providing 50% of the world’s oxygen to being the basis of so much culture in the pacific rim and in so many other communities.

Speaking of, today I was able to meet people from New Zealand who represented various indigenous people of that area. I was able to learn so much from them. They showed me that the ocean contributes so much to their way of life and how going back to traditional sustainable practices will be incredibly impactful in those areas. My first day was very impactful, from opening my eyes to the even greater importance of the ocean to understanding the amount of culture that is based in the ocean. Even though I found that many of the events today were generic, I was able to learn a lot from and was able to increase my background knowledge on many subjects.