Bangladesh has announced a cooperative effort among 53 countries in the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) to promote the conservation.

The announced cooperative effort is also meant for sustainable use of oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific, reports UNB.

The participants in the third Our Ocean conference, held on September 15-16 in Washington, D.C., announced over 136 new initiatives on marine conservation and protection valued at more than $5.24 billion, as well as new commitments on the protection of almost four million square kilometers (over 1.5 million square miles) of the ocean, according to a fact-sheet released by the US Department of State on ‘Our Ocean 2016 Commitments’.

To date, the three Ocean conferences have generated commitments valued at over $9.2 billion to protect ocean and committed to protecting 9.9 million square kilometers (3.8 million square miles) of ocean — an area the size of the United States.

The commitments focus on the key ocean issues of our time: Marine protected areas, sustainable fisheries, marine pollution, and climate-related impacts on the ocean.

The partners look forward to building on these and previous commitments at the conferences in 2017 to be hosted by the European Union in Malta, in 2018 in Indonesia, and in 2019 in Norway.

Indonesia announced that it will host the 2018 Our Ocean conference.

Norway announced that it will host the 2019 Our Ocean conference.