UN Ocean Conference: can our seas be saved?
The third UN Ocean Conference, held in Nice in the south of France, has come to an end. Representatives of around 130 countries, including numerous heads of state and government discussed options for protecting the world's oceans and drew up a plan of action - which, however, is non-binding. European commentators have mixed feelings about the results.
The solutions are on the table
The Frankfurter Rundschau sees encouraging signs:
“Numerous examples show that establishing marine protected areas can revitalise underwater flora and fauna. In this respect it is positive that the planned UN High Seas Treaty is scheduled to come into force by the end of 2025. ... The latest analysis by the UN World Food Programme according to which two-thirds of global fish stocks are managed sustainably, in other words, they are not being overfished, is also cause for optimism. It has been demonstrated that fish management systems with catch quotas work. ... Solutions do exist for problems ranging from climate change to plastics, however big they may be. They 'just' need to be finally tackled.”
Raising awareness is not enough
The conference failed to produce a strategy for significantly increasing the number of marine protected areas, Público criticises:
“Ocean conferences do not have the decision-making power of a COP, but they are the venue where all issues and the full complexity of the challenges facing the seas are concentrated under one roof. The general feeling is that Nice has fulfilled its role by giving international mobilisation a boost. ... But the challenges are enormous. Take the target of putting 30 percent of the oceans under protection by 2030. One study suggests that this would require the approval of 85 new marine protected areas per day. It's hard to imagine how that could work.”
We need solutions
The Nice summit must breathe new life into efforts to protect the world's oceans, Público stresses:
“The average surface temperature of the oceans is rising by 0.26 degrees per decade, at a rate four times faster than in 1980. Protecting biodiversity, which is threatened by this rise in temperature and by human activity, is a key issue in Nice. Not least because almost two-thirds of the world's oceans are not under any government's jurisdiction. The High Seas Treaty, which seeks to regulate these marine areas, is one of the important documents on the agenda.”
Marine protection is self-protection
Writing in L'Opinion, Christophe Clergeau, member of the European Parliament S&D Group, underscores our responsibility as humans:
“The future of the oceans obviously depends neither on a conference nor on a pact, but first and foremost on the behaviour of each and every one of us. We must stop treating the sea as if it were a giant rubbish dump for our plastic waste and dangerous substances such as PFAS, pesticides and other chemicals. ... I hope that the UN Ocean Conference will be a powerful moment of awareness, mobilisation and concrete commitments on the part of states and civil societies. The oceans provide us with oxygen, regulate the climate and are a tremendous reservoir of biodiversity. We depend on them, so let's save them to save ourselves.”