In addition to the general objectives of the Annual Consultative Meeting, each Consultative Meeting has a number of specific objectives that are linked to the specific theme the meeting focuses on. The LME21 meeting will focus on building partnerships towards achieving SDGs in the context of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

A LME partnership is the arrangement where partners agree to cooperate and collaborate to advance their mutual interests by sharing ownership, as well as the responsibility for managing a Large Marine Ecosystem and engage in defining and solving respective problems, and exploring and exploiting sustainable development opportunities. The partnerships assume a shared vision among partners, and a willingness to work together in a spirit of collaboration and cooperation towards creating conditions for sustainable developments within realms of an LME. All LME initiatives operate within a certain form of formal and/or informal partnership. Their characteristics differ depending on the nature of the problem the LME partnerships are confronted with, level of willingness of partners to work towards solving problems, political and economic conditions, environmental challenges etc.

Stepping up action on the ground and increasing impact at scale requires continuous investment and collaboration in supporting the management of LMEs. This process assists countries move towards sustainable development by unlocking the potential for sustainable socio-economic development including through the development of a Blue Economy, including blue carbon restoration, marine spatial planning and economic valuation of marine resources. The optimal way to get there is through a concerted effort and this requires strategic partnerships between all stakeholders. In short, the LMEs must become everyone’s business.

More specifically, the LME21 meeting will aim, inter alia, to:

• Mobilize practitioners and partners to enhance the LME community’s efforts towards implementation of SAPs as well as implementation of the Agenda 2030 agenda, in particular SDG14 targets;
• Present latest development in solving the critical issues important for the implementation of LME projects and programs, such as coastal resilience, pollution, fisheries, coastal degradation etc;
• Discuss and approve the medium term program of work (roadmap) of future LME consultative meetings;
• Inform potential partners of the benefits that creating alliances with the LME initiatives may bring;
• Advise on the transformation of the TDA-SAP process from an almost exclusively “problem-solving” mechanism towards a “leveraging-opportunities” investment framework.

Expected Outputs

• Existing and potential future partners in LME partnerships brought together and informed of the benefits of their cooperation and collaboration and exchanged good practices and lessons learnt for establishing and maintaining partnerships;
• Progress in reaching SDG 14 targets through implementation of SAPs presented;
• Projects’ operatives informed of the latest development in scientific subjects relevant to the implementation of the projects and the ways to achieve that;
• Validated medium term roadmap of LME annual consultative meetings;
• Proposals for the revision of the TDA-SAP process;
• Proposed agenda topics, time and place of the 22nd LME Consultative Meeting in 2020; and
• Agreed strategy for the LME Community participation at the forthcoming oceans events.