There are 20 paragraphs in the Rio+20 Conference Outcome Document “The Future We Want” (http://www.uncsd2012.org/thefuturewewant.html) on oceans and seas, and an additional three paragraphs on small island developing States , which stress the critical role that oceans play in all three pillars of sustainable development, and a commitment to protect, and restore, the health, productivity and resilience of oceans and marine ecosystems, and to maintain their biodiversity, enabling their conservation and sustainable use for present and future generations. The contribution that oceans can make to the sustainable economy, or the blue economy, was also recognized. One of the few concrete developments at Rio was an agreement to launch a plan to protect the high seas, though the meeting postponed the decision for a High Seas Biodiversity Agreement for two years. In addition to the formal outcome, the Rio+20 process included the opportunity for governments and other organizations to make voluntary commitments, allowing civil society to capture the opportunity as to the next phase of the sustainable development paradigm. There are currently five Rio+20 registered Voluntary Commitments in the category of Oceans, Seas, and SIDS, two of which were registered by the Global Ocean Forum. See for more information: http://www.globaloceans.org/sites/udel.edu.globaloceans/files/RioVoluntaryCommitments.pdf
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