The 26th Conference on Health and Environment: Global Partners for Global Solutions is focused on the life in the oceans and how it affects human health. Our oceans cover more than two-thirds of the planet's surface and are the source of 80% of the world's fisheries. Barriers such as coral reefs, mangroves, and salt marshes also protect densely populated coastal lands. However, our oceans are increasingly more polluted on a scale that threatens to impair their ecological function and threatens both marine species and gene pools.

Since development must be sustainable, we need to focus on conservation that protects the structure, functions, and diversity of the world's natural systems on which life of our species depends. The ecological processes that keep our planet fit for human life must be protected and we must ensure that the use of renewable resources is sustainable. By presenting scientifically grounded information, WIT works to influence government and non-governmental stakeholders. This process needs to continue unimpeded if SDG's are to be achieved.