ICOMIA Announces Climate Change Policy

The International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA) announced the publication of a Climate Change Policy together with a Letter of Declaration.

This paper outlines the background, the threats and risks, the increasing global concern, and proposes a call to action. In the context of this paper, the threat is climate change exhibiting itself through issues such as changes in the frequency and intensity of sea-level rise, water temperatures, storms, waves, flood and drought. The risk is anything that may be exposed to vulnerability, damage, or destruction, both to infrastructure and participation in boating.

ICOMIA will encourage its members to:

• develop strategies to decarbonize the recreational boating sector
• educate the industry on the importance of the ocean in terms of weather changes, biodiversity, and sustainability
• apply evidence to inform and support climate change action
• strengthen operational resilience by developing risk assessments, and contingency plans (e.g. marinas, training)
• collaborate with energy and water suppliers, transport providers and others involved in the supply chain to understand interdependencies, and reduce exposure to associated risks
• consider a range of climate change scenarios when developing adaptation strategies and include an appropriate combination of structural, operational and institutional measures
• focus on flexible and adaptive infrastructure, systems and operations to allow for future modification, and to avoid ‘locking in’ to solutions that prove inappropriate as conditions change

Download the Climate Change Policy and the Letter of Declaration here.