Connect: GRID-Arendal Annual Report 2017

Connected ecosystems, connected goals Restoring and maintaining marine ecosystems will help the global community achieve sustainable development at local, national and global scales. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 14 – to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans” – will help us achieve at least another 10 SDGs, from ending poverty and hunger to promoting economic growth and combating climate change.

on knowledge. We do this through technical training workshops, sharing specific expertise on tools for better management, and by training people to lead capacity development activities. As a member of the Panorama – Solutions for a healthy planet partnership, we ensure positive lessons learned are available to a global community of conservation practitioners. Our activities take place in Norway with the Norwegian Blue Forests Network, in Europe with the ResponSEAble project, in Atlantic Africa with Mami Wata and globally with Blue Solutions and the GEF Blue Forests project.

These goals are connected to these ecosystems and the human activities that take place there. That’s why GRID- Arendal is bringing the full range of ocean actors together – conservationists and fishers, coastal planners and tourism operators – to find common goals for protecting and using our oceans. We help people to care about protectingmarine life through a range of projects. We enable people to take action in their own communities not only by strengthening their expertise and skills on marine conservation, planning and growing prosperity and equity, but also by inspiring others and passing

Participant comments on training sessions “It is rare when a training course generates such a fantastic outcome, new friends, new opportunities, amazing skills and a great network.”

“Right now I feel like I’m, sort of, born again so to speak, to where I have new ideas and new thoughts.”

Fishermen at Lumley Beach, Freetown, Sierra Leone.

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