All life on Earth depends on the ocean, which regulates our climate and provides food to billions.
The United States is partnering with Palau to host the seventh Our Ocean Conference April 13–14, 2022, in Koror, Palau, in the Pacific island nation of over 200 volcanic and coral islands. Palau will be the first small-island developing state to host the conference.
Leaders from the private and public sectors will commit to actions to protect the ocean and address issues such as plastic pollution and illegal fishing.
Several U.S. government representatives have spoken about the importance of ocean sustainability.
“Fifty-one percent of the [planet’s oxygen] comes from the ocean and yet we humans are currently altering the chemistry of the ocean faster and more than it has been altered in millions of years.” — Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry
“It’s estimated that we add between eight and fourteen million tons of plastic pollution to the ocean every single year. That’s about one truckload dumped in the sea every minute of every day, and that rate is increasing, not decreasing.” — Secretary of State Antony Blinken
“The world’s ocean basins are critical to the success of our Nation and, indeed, to life on Earth. The ocean powers our economy, provides food for billions of people … and regulates weather patterns and our global climate system.” — President Joseph R. Biden
“We have to care about what’s in the ocean, what’s on the ocean, what we’re putting in the ocean, and what we’re taking out of the ocean.” — Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry
