Blue finance in the 10X20 INITIATIVE Conference on Marine Protected Areas in Rome, March 2016

The 10X20 INITIATIVE Conference on Marine Protected Areas: An Urgent Imperative A Dialogue Between Scientists and Policymakers was held in Rome, Italy, on March 7th-9th 2016. Blue Finance took part in the conference, which was held under the aegis of the Government of Italy, the Ocean Sanctuary Alliance, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Caribbean Environment Programme (CEP). It was aimed at developing a science-based framework, which would assist member states in achieving the globally agreed commitment to conserve at least 10 percent of coastal and marine areas by the year 2020. Blue Finance took part in the Sustainable Finance working group. At the end of the meeting, there was dialogue between the policy makers and the scientists, and the two groups agreed on a consensus statement, which highlighted the important elements of MPAs that had to be taken into consideration to make the 10×20 a reality.