Given the cultural significance of fishing as a way of life, and as a key component of the maritime history of the Commonwealth, there is also scope for engagement with partners from the museum and education sectors to set up exhibitions, virtual and tangible, that communicate the vital importance of sustainable exploitation of the ocean to our collective future. Conclusion There is an opportunity for the Commonwealth at Sri Lanka in 2013 and again at Mauritius in 2015, the culmination of three successive CHOGMS in the Indian Ocean, building on engagement at Port of Spain, Perth, Colombo and the 2014 SIDS conference in Samoa, to adopt a charter affirming the importance of the ocean and associated coastal livelihoods in the history, culture and economies of Commonwealth countries. This particularly concerns the small coastal states and the large donor states, and there is an opportunity to agree measures to ensure good governance supported by an accessible and transparent evidence base, capacity development and strong regulations which are appropriately enforced. This opportunity must be grasped in order to realise Commonwealth values to the benefit of the coastal populations of countries at the sharp end of climate change, degradation of the coastal environment, depleted fisheries resources and threats to cherished cultures and ways of life. Oc e a n g o v e r n a n c e f o r t h e C ommo nwe a l t h Reference Halpern, B. S. et al, Nature 488, pp. 615–620 (30 August 2012, doi:10.1038/nature11397, ‘An index to assess the health and benefits of the global ocean’. Endnote 1 See the Ocean Health Index: http://www.nature.com/nature/ journal/v488/n7413/full/nature11397.html. Commonwealth Governance Handbook 2013/14 119 Nicholas Watts DPhil is executive principal, Global SLC – Sustainable Livelihoods and Consulting, London and Berlin; and governing board member and education adviser, Commonwealth Human Ecology Council (CHEC), leading the council’s work on small-scale fisheries, sustainable livelihoods and food security. Currently a senior research associate at the Environmental Policy Research Centre (FFU), Free University Berlin, he was for ten years a senior research fellow at the Science Centre Berlin and for three years research director of the Anglo-German Foundation for the study of Industrial Society. Dr Watts has taught at several UK universities and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA), and the Higher Education Academy. Dr Watts was head of CHEC delegation to the Mauritius International Meeting (2005), and the Trinidad and Tobago (2009) and Perth (2011) Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings.
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