Introduction: The Commonwealth, climate and ocean initiatives

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 54 countries. Most Commonwealth countries are small island states or have long coastlines and, thus, climate change and oceans play an important role in the lives of their citizens. The Commonwealth has its secretariat in London. It has two other inter-governmental organisations (the Commonwealth Foundation and the Commonwealth pf Learning), and a range of civil society organisations that contributes to its work. The Commonwealth adopted the Blue Charter as its statement of intent and much of its ocean-related activities uphold the Charter. For further details, please consult the following resources: