Joint Initiative Highlights
Joint Initiative Applauds Presidential Memorandum
June 12, 2009
The Joint Ocean Commission Initiative strongly supports President Barack Obama’s Presidential Memorandum laying out a timeline and structure for the development of a national ocean policy. Such a policy will bolster our nation’s ability to successfully manage the vast natural and economic resources provided by our oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes. The increasingly urgent need for a national ocean policy and necessary coordination to effectively implement such policy is also emphasized in a report issued by the Joint Initiative earlier this year Changing Oceans, Changing World: Ocean Priorities for the New Administration and Congress, which provides recommendations based on input from a diverse range of interests in our nation’s ocean and coastal resources.
Read the Joint Initiative’s press statement here.
Changing Oceans, Changing World
Ocean Priorities for the Obama Administration and Congress
The Joint Ocean Commission Initiative has released an urgent set of recommendations, Changing Oceans, Changing World: Ocean Priorities for the Obama Administration and Congress. Building on a previous Joint Initiative report released in fall 2008, Changing Oceans, Changing World outlines twenty priority actions needed for improving ocean and coastal policy and management, bolstering international leadership, strengthening ocean science, and funding ocean and coastal policies and programs. The actions respond to critical challenges, including climate change and its impacts, development of a comprehensive energy policy that includes ocean-based energy resources, and stimulation of the national economy, a significant portion of which is dependent on ocean and coastal activities and resources. With strong input and endorsement from ocean and coastal related industries, environmental advocacy groups, science and education organizations, and local, state, and federal government partners the Joint Initiative strongly encourages the Obama Administration and Congress to implement these recommendations within the next two to four years.
One Coast, One Future
Recommendations to Local and State Leaders
from the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative
The Joint Ocean Commission Initiative has released its much anticipated report, “One Coast, One Future: Securing the Health of West Coast Ecosystems and Economies.” The report, requested by 19 elected officials from California, Oregon and Washington State, offers guidance to local, state and federal leaders on how to improve the health of coastal ecosystems and the economies that depend on them through integrated decision making.
“Protecting our oceans and coasts starts at the local level,” said Leon E. Panetta, co-chair of the Joint Initiative and former White House Chief of Staff. “We are pleased to see so much interest in finding solutions to the critical problems facing our oceans and coasts. The Joint Initiative has provided the input that will lead to meaningful ocean policy reform at the state and local level,” Panetta continued.
“One Coast, One Future” offers specific and immediate ways that local and state West Coast leaders can collaborate to implement a coordinated and more productive approach to managing the coast, as well as ways state legislatures and the federal government can support their efforts.
Read the full report
Oceans and coasts are severely threatened, domestically and around the world. The Joint Initiative’s primary goal is to accelerate the pace of change that results in meaningful ocean policy reform. The Joint Initiative brings extraordinary expertise, perspective, and diversity of interests to the ocean policy dialogue. The Joint Initiative works with people and organizations at the national, regional, state, and local levels to build durable support for ocean policy reform at all levels of decision making. Through its work the Joint Initiative seeks to expand our collective understanding of the threats facing our oceans and to enable actions that address them so that our oceans remain vibrant and healthy for current and future generations.
