Young Leaders in Ocean Governance
Update as of 13 September, 2024
The Young Leaders in Ocean Governance Team is incredibly grateful to the Government of Bermuda for officially endorsing our programme. The endorsement from Bermuda’s Ministry of Home Affairs The Hon. Walter H. Roban, JP, MP, marks a significant milestone in the institutionalization of blue economy capacity building and training opportunities within Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Our team is dedicated to furthering our relationship with the Government of Bermuda througout our official launch of YLOG in the Summer of 2025.
Our goal is to develop the first scalable youth talent pipeline into the emerging Blue Economy & Law of the Seas.
Young Leaders in Ocean Governance is a 10-week cohort-based training program. We will match 10 fellows, ages 18-26, with full time internship opportunities within prominent legal and financial organizations in the Summer of 2025. Our program will be piloted in Bermuda. Internships will be coupled with our proprietary curriculum which synthesizes foundational concepts of ocean finance and policy with real-time operations.
Young Leaders in Ocean Governance is an institutional commitment to the comprehensive future of ocean affairs.
YLOG is not just an educational program, but a bridge that will connect scientific, financial, legislative, and non-profit institutions in coastal communities and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Through our innovative fellowship and curriculum hybrid, we will not only bolster the workforce development strategies of SIDS but also empower youth by providing them with competency-building and entry points for coastal communities, starting in Bermuda.
YLOG will provide 10 Bermudian fellows with hands-on shadowing opportunities within predominant Bermudian legal and financial organizations. Internships will have the two tracks, which will focus on:
Blue Economy
“The sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystem” (World Bank)
Bermuda’s Coral Reef’s
The total economic value of Bermuda’s reef system is $722 million, representing about 12% of Bermuda’s GDP (on average)
The Sargasso Sea’s Economic Value
The indirect use value from the Sargasso Sea is over US$ 2.7 billion per year (SSC)
YLOG’s proprietary curriculum, guided by the United Nations Environmental Programme’s Blue Finance Initiative modules, enables fellows to synthesize foundational ocean finance and policy concepts and apply prominent ocean concepts with real-world operations and scenarios. Our training program, coupled with our internship placements, aims to drive progress in ocean governance in Bermuda and globally by empowering the next generation through mentorship from current ocean leaders.
By directly engaging with ESG analysts, financial managers and industry professionals across disciplines, program fellows can learn how leading financial institutions are responding to the climate emergency by reconceiving investment priorities, product offerings, and strategies. Gaining firsthand exposure to sustainability reporting requirements, climate risk analytics, and capital mobilization strategies for climate change mitigation & adaptation are key experiences our fellows will benefit from.
Through our program, our interns will match real-world experience with international ocean financial mechanisms & case studies provided by our partners, including but not limited to:
Law of the Seas
“The set of international agreements, treaties, and customs that governments use to maintain peaceful relations, productivity, and order on the sea” (UNCLOS)
Bermuda’s Exclusive Economic Zone
The Government of Bermuda has committed to protect at least 20% of their total Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in marine protected areas (MPAs)
High Seas Treaty Ratifications
60 Countries have signed and ratified the United Nations High Seas Treaty to date.
The United Nations High Seas Treaty, established in 2023, establishes the first comprehensive framework for regulating commercial activities in international waters. This global treaty impacts businesses and investors by mandating stricter environmental impact assessments and transparency in reporting nature-related risks. YLOG is developing a trained cohort of young professionals equipped to integrate these concepts for our partner institutions and shared sectors.
Young Leaders in Ocean Governance has been recognized at prominent UNFCCC Conferences and acknowledged as one of the first training programs designed for youth entering the fields of ocean affairs. As a case study, YLOG will be featured at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Building on Bermuda's leadership in financial regulation, corporate governance and environmental protection, we emphasize the pivotal role of local regulatory and legislative bodies to ensure the program’s success in cultivating a new generation well-versed in the complexities of ocean governance from a legal perspective. We aim to immerse students in the implementation of marine statutory instruments by allowing students to shadow local legislative operations.
The Law of the Seas training enables students to comprehensively explore the multifaceted dimensions of the Law of the Seas—socially, politically, culturally, and economically. Led by experts in the law of the sea from both academia and practice, the program would be able to establish a solid working knowledge of the primary sources of the law of the sea, including treaties, customary law, and judicial practice, from protecting the marine environment and managing vulnerable species to regulating deep-sea activities and, crucially, honing skills and understanding of the enforcement of domestic and international law in the ocean while considering state obligations on life above and below water.
Utilizing data points published by the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), a unit of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University, YLOG fellows will be taught to translate real-time carbon data into financial instruments such as Carbon Credits and Blue Bonds. Fellows will also have the opportunity to tour a research vessel and tasked to create a 10-week financial analysis on the financial resources required for conservation, including fuel costs, human capital, insurance, and maintenance. Fellows will participate in masterclass modules from our partner organizations, delving into ecosystem credits and experimenting with new environmental accounting measures. YLOG’s fellows will enter their career paths in legal and financial pathways with their hands-on knowledge and experience of what it takes to conduct conservation work, bridging it with the financial mechanisms to sustain them.
YLOG will determine success through qualitative data and pre and post program surveys. The data will include ocean literacy benchmarks through the International Ocean Literacy Survey (IOLS). After the completion of our pilot program, we aim to institutionalize our program within government economic development departments, offering job security and talent retention within the communities we serve.
“Small island developing States face a unique set of challenges in developing sustainable ocean-based economies due to their small land mass, limited resources and vulnerability to climate change, among others. Many such States grapple with regulatory barriers, lack of access to finance and technology, and infrastructure limitations to develop sustainable ocean-based economies. Capacity-building and innovative and effective partnerships are vital to strengthening support for small island developing States to address these challenges.”
U.N. Secretary General on the Preparatory process of the for the 2025 United Nations Conference (Paragraph 38)
Our Asks
International Partners (outside of Bermuda):
Financial and Legislative Organizations in Bermuda
Prospective Sponsors
Our Partners
Our partners are spearheading capacity building and ocean development on a global scale. By partnering with us, your organization will gain international visibility as the innovators who helped pilot a pipeline into the ocean governance sector. Additionally, by enabling fellows to shadow your climate financing operations, they will inject fresh perspectives and knowledge from our internationally-developed curriculum that can directly inspire the evolution of your climate investment and legislative portfolios. Further information will be sent out as the foundations of the course continue to develop.
The Young Leaders in Ocean Governance team is currently in the process of signing Memorandums of Understanding with partner organizations. This includes permission to utilize their logos in promotional materials. Therefore, we are currently unable to publically disclose our full list of partners. If you have any further inquiries regarding this matter, please reach out to info@youngoceanleaders.org
An updated, real-time list of public and official partners will be updated below:
Official International Partners:
Timeline
Proposal
31 August 2024
Curriculum development finalized, pushed towards review process through partner institutions and United Nations Environmental Programme Standards
15 December 2024
Finalize reporting process at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Launch admission process for Bermudian youth through partner institutions
16 june 2025
Launch date of YLOG, following the United Nations Oceans Conference in Nice, France
25 August 2025
Conclude program, launch post-course surveys, analyze data, and institutionalize the program for repetition in 2026 onwards
Young Leaders in Ocean Governance,
a member and programme of The Ocean Rights Coalition, holding the UK commercial registration No. SC815244
info@youngoceanleaders.org
Instagram: @youngoceanleaders