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Ocean and Coastal states around the world are increasingly seeking to better utilize and benefit from their ocean environments, which can be vast in comparison to their land areas. Conflicting human uses, a changing climate, and a desire to ensure long term sustainability compound the challenge to grow a robust "blue economy".

One of the aims of the United Nations (UN) negotiations on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) is to develop a legal process for the establishment of area-based management tools, including marine protected areas in ABNJ.

Marine protected areas can serve to regulate harvesting and conserve biodiversity. Within large multi-use MPAs, it is often unclear to what degree critical sites of biodiversity are afforded protection against commercial activities.

Increasing evidence shows that economic growth contributes to biodiversity loss via greater resource consumption and higher emissions. Nonetheless, a review of international biodiversity and sustainability policies shows that the majority advocate economic growth.

The world has a total forest area of 4.06 billion hectares (ha) which is 31 percent of the total land area. This area is equivalent to 0.52 ha per person - although forests are not distributed equally among the world's peoples or geographically. The tropical domain has the largest proportion of the world's forests (45 percent) followed by the boreal, temperate and subtropical domains.

This is a newsletter about Cook Islands projects on the way or is in currently going. The review of the Environmental Act and the needs to ensure that environmental impacts are being properly considered in project permits - something we have recently reminded of with Te Tatou Vai's trialling of chemicals in Rarotonga's water supply. The cool island are hoping to kick start their projects as soon as some projects receive some funds.

The Tropical Pacific Ocean remains neutral with respect to the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) with negative Indian Ocean Dipole phase possible in mid-2020. International climate models forecast ENSO-neutral until July 2020.

In this report the World Ocean Initiative assesses the challenges facing key sectors in the ocean economy, including seafood, shipping, tourism and renewable energy. We look at the role of banks and investors in financing the transition towards clean, low carbon technologies, as well as opportunities in data and analytics.

Well-managed and enforced no-take marine reserves generate important larval subsidies to neighbouring habitat and thereby contribute to the long-term sustainability of fisheries.

This synthesis report provides an overview of the project and its activities, including the Ecosystem and Socio-economic Resilience Analysis and Mapping (ESRAM) studies, which were the foundation for the development of ecosystembased adaptation (EbA) options in the three countries. It outlines the selected EbA demonstration initiatives and highlights the successes and lessons learnt in implementing these options at provincial, island and local/village level. Synthesis reports outlining the findings of the Ecosystem and Socio-economic Resilience Analysis and Mapping (ESRAM) studies are available separately.