WOC PAST EVENTS - 2012
2012 WOC Organized Meetings, Panels and Events
- The WOC organized the following events:
Oceans, Industry and Rio + 20 (Canberra, 4 April 2012)





Jointly organized by WOC and the Australian Association for Maritime Affairs (AAMA).
Held to ensure ocean industries have the opportunity to provide input to “Rio + 20”– the decadal
UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio de Janeiro, 20-22 June 2012) for which oceans
are a thematic priority.
Brought together the diverse ocean business community to provide input to the UN conference
via the Australian Government delegation and the WOC.
Included shipping, fisheries, oil/gas, aquaculture, offshore renewable energy, tourism, dredging,
mining, and other ocean industries to consider the Rio + 20 marine agenda issues that have
major business implications.
Also discuss development of a multi-sectoral ocean industry leadership alliance in Australia.
Smart Ocean/Smart Fisheries: Data Collection From Fishing Vessels (Hong Kong, 6 September 2012)


WOC Panel at Seafood Summit explored how to expand fishing industry efforts to gather ocean,
weather and climate information.
Senior fishing industry representatives and scientists focused on the role of the fishing industry in
collecting data, and how to scale up these efforts.
Arctic Business Leadership Council Workshop (Reykjavik, 16 September 2012)
- and
Informal Business Dialogue with Arctic Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group
(SDWG) (Reykjavik, 17 September 2012)






Organized to assemble Arctic industry representatives to explore creating an “Arctic Business
Leadership Council”.
Brought together more than 30 representatives from shipping, oil and gas, fisheries, mining,
marine science/technology and other industries with Arctic interests and operations.
Over two-thirds of participating companies were non-WOC Members, several of whom joined the
WOC soon after the meeting.
Created a unique opportunity for the private sector to explore how to catalyze multi-sectoral
leadership and collaboration among responsible companies on the future of the Arctic.
Key discussion areas included the interest of many companies in the collecting and sharing Arctic
data, consistent with the WOC Smart Ocean/Smart Industries program.
WOC and industry representatives invited to provide input to the Arctic Council’s first ever
“Informal Business Dialogue”.
2012 WOC Speaking Engagements and Event Participation
- The WOC Executive Director was a speaker or participant at the following events:



National Center for Science and Environment: Environment & Security (invited panelist)
US Joint Ocean Commission Initiative Leadership Council (invited panelist)
Pacific 2012 Symposium (invited panelist)







































Economist World Ocean Summit (invited panelist; advisory committee member)
China Maritime (invited speaker)
The Legacy of Rachel Carson Symposium (invited speaker)
Northeast Workshop on Regional Ocean Planning (invited speaker)
Boston Seafood Show Conference: Sustainability Session (participant)
Oceanology: Ocean Observing Networks session (invited panelist)
Baltic Scenario Planning workshop (invited participant)
EU Case for Maritime Spatial Planning Conference (invited participant)
Green Shipping Technology (invited roundtable organizer)
Seminar: Towards international regulation of off shore oil exploitation (invited participant)
World Bank Global Partnership on Oceans Workshop (invited participant)
International Polar Year Conference 2012 (invited panelist)
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Subsidiary Body on Science, Technology and Technical
Advice (SBSTTA) Meeting (participant)
SBSTTA side event “Ocean Industry Leadership and Conservation Community Interaction In
Addressing Marine Biodiversity Through the CBD” (organizer)
Global Green Growth Summit 2012 (invited panelist)
Well Plugging and Abandonment Forum (invited speaker)
Green Marine Green Tech (invited speaker)
OGP Programme Review Meeting of the Joint Industry Programme (JIP) on Exploration &
Production Sound and Marine Life (invited participant)
WWF Canada Roundtable on Oceans Health and Economy (invited speaker)
UN Rio+20 (participant)
Rio+20: Oceans Day (invited speaker); Corporate Sustainability Forum (participant); IMO Side
Event (invited speaker)
Unesco-IOC Annual Large Marine Ecosystems Meeting (invited speaker)
East Asian Seas Congress 2012: Building a Blue Economy (invited speaker)
Draeger Foundation Conference on Sustainable Oceans: Developing a New International
Architecture for Maritime Policy (invited panelist)
Esri User Conference: Marine Session; Extractive Industries (invited speaker)
East West Center North Pacific Arctic Conference (invited speaker)
Yeosu Expo 2012 Declaration Forum (invited participant)
Seafood Summit (participant)
International Union of Maritime Industries Annual Conference (invited speaker)
South Africa Offshore Environment Forum (invited speaker)
International Sea Information System (ISIS) Partners Meeting (invited speaker)
German Marshal Fund Atlantic Dialogues Conference (invited participant)
EU CSA Marine Biotech 2nd Workshop (invited participant)
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conference of Parties (COP) (participant)
CBD COP side event on Ocean Noise (invited speaker)
Offshore Mariculture (invited speaker)
Integrated Ocean Observing Systems 10-yearly Summit (invited participant)
Advanced Submarine Network for the Telecom Industry (invited speaker and session chair)
Symposium on Animal Welfare Impacts of Entanglement in Marine Debris (invited participant)