The Secretariat of the Wider Caribbean Ocean Coordination Mechanism (OCM), together with partner organizations and in coordination with the Chairs of the MCO Steering Group and Executive Group, will hold the First Joint Workshop of the OCM Working Groups and the First Regional Partnership Forum: "Our Sea - Our Source - Our Future. The Wider Caribbean (and beyond): United in Action, from analysis to decision-making and implementation", scheduled for Wednesday, October 29, and Thursday, October 30, 2025, in a hybrid format.

Both events will be held in Cartagena, Colombia, as parallel activities to the 78th Conference of the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI78, October 27-31), whose theme this year is: “Partnering for the oceans: merging efforts on oceans, climate, and biodiversity through regional marine data and innovation.”

GCFI78 is co-sponsored by the UNDP/GEF/UNOPS PROCARIBE+ project and UNESCO-IOC Subcommission for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions

The Joint Workshop is organized by the OCM Secretariat, and the First Regional Partnership Forum is co-organized by the projects: “PROCARIBE+” (OCM Secretariat), IW:LEARN, “BE CLME+,” “Gulf of Mexico SAP LME,” and “Sustainable Pacific,” as well as by UNESCO-IOC IOCARIBE, the UNEP Cartagena Convention Secretariat, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean,the GCFI and the Marine Biodiversity Observers Network.

The objectives of the Joint Workshop of the OCM Working:

• Developing roadmaps for the main objectives of the OCM 2026–2028 Work Program (SOMEE, SAP and MDII).
• Aligning the preliminary draft roadmaps to consolidate an integrated roadmap that will enable the overall OCM 2026-2028 Work Program to be fulfilled.
• Finalizing the Terms of Reference for the working groups.

The Partnership Forum will promote and facilitate dialogue among a wide range of key ocean stakeholders on integrated and interactive ocean governance in the Wider Caribbean (and beyond)

With a broader audience, this forum aims to:

• Disseminate the OCM's mandate and Work Program.
• Promote the exchange of experiences and good practices.
• Present the results of the working groups to the ocean community.
• Mobilize support to implement the OCM Work Program.

Context

The First Regional Partnership Forum “Our Sea - Our Source - Our Future. The Wider Caribbean (and beyond): United in Action” is taking place at a critical juncture for ocean governance and sustainable development in the Wider Caribbean. The commencement of the Wider Caribbean Ocean Coordination Mechanism (OCM) in December 2024 marked a milestone in the region’s collective efforts to strengthen cooperation for healthy, resilient marine and coastal ecosystems and sustainable blue economies. 

Understood as the collective of its members, the regional OCM is positioned as a multi-stakeholder platform that directly contributes to foster coordination efforts, dialogue, coherence, synergies, and joint action among governments and intergovernmental organisations (the OCM membership), and other ocean-relevant regional stakeholders. 

The Forum constitutes an initial opportunity to facilitate regional and global stakeholder engagement beyond the OCM membership -currently consisting of 20 countries of the region and 9 IGOs- in line with the concept of an integrated and interactive ocean governance that involves a wide range of stakeholders and sectors of the society.

This First Partnership Forum under the OCM’s Work Programme responds to renewed global and regional commitments to accelerate the transition from analysis to decision-making and implementation. It is framed within key international and regional processes, including:

• The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly SDG 14 (Life Below Water) and its interlinkages with climate, biodiversity, and socio-economic goals.
• The Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), with its targets on ecosystem restoration, marine and coastal protection, and resource mobilisation.
• The Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
• The “Science we Need for the Ocean we Want” UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030), which call for strengthened scientific knowledge, data sharing, and innovative partnerships to address the triple planetary crisis.
• The commitments under the Cartagena Convention and its Protocols, which remain the only legally binding regional framework for the protection and sustainable development of the Wider Caribbean’s marine environment
• The Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS).

The Forum reinforces the OCM’s role as a partnership-oriented and knowledge-driven mechanism for advancing the Wider Caribbean ocean agenda.