NEW YORK: The President of the United Nations General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, today addressed the Our Ocean Conference in Palau, urging the international community to expand protective areas of the ocean, support the scientific community and tackle plastic pollution.
Speaking at the 7th Our Ocean Conference in Palau, President Shahid, who hails from the Maldives, said he was heartened to stand on a small island, surrounded by the vast ocean, discussing its importance.
“There is no way to protect the Ocean without wading together with all relevant stakeholders,” the President told an audience that included the two co-hosts – Palau President Surangel S. Whipps, Jr. and John Kerry, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.
In his address, President Shahid, who is only the sixth General Assembly President to come from a Small Island Developing States, cited four main areas on conservation and sustainable use of the ocean and the seas.
First, The President called for an expansion of protected areas. Even though the ocean covers about 70 per cent of the plant, less than eight per cent of it is protected.
The Our Ocean Conference continues to marshal global momentum in this regard, the President said. The past six conferences have led to more than 1,400 commitments at over $90 billion, protecting at least five million square kilometers of the Ocean.
Second, President Shahid called for investment in “solid, reliable, and accessible ocean science data and information” which could be used to inform policies and programmes.
The United Nations had proclaimed a Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030). As mandated by the UN General Assembly, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is working with UN Member States to build up national capacity in science, to better understand and improve management of the Ocean, coasts and ecosystems.
In his address, President also stressed the important of recognizing and addressing the threats facing the ocean. Referring to the IPCC report launched on 11 April as a “wakeup call”, the President noted that “a warming planet means a warming ocean” with increased levels of acidification and greater loss of marine ecosystems and marine biodiversity.
Just in the past few weeks, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) and Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) announced that climate change had triggered the Great Barrier Reef’s sixth mass bleaching. Meanwhile, UNESCO scientists are considering whether to add the Reef, which is considered one of the world’s seven natural wonders, to their “in danger” list.
The fourth point which President emphasized was tackling plastic pollution. “Just last week, researchers found, for the first time, microplastics in lungs of humans, highlighting the scale and severity of the problem,” the President said, of the study published in the Science of the Total Environment.
Given that plastic takes hundreds of years to degrade, most of it still exists. It is estimated that only about 20 per cent of the plastic created since the 1950s has been incinerated or successfully recycled.
President Shahid connected the timing of the Our Ocean Conference with four key United Nations events: the Ocean Conference in Portugal from 27 June to 1 July; High-level Meeting on the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda on 28 April; High-level tourism event on 4 May; and the High-level Moment for Nature in July.
The President also notes that this year marks the 40th anniversary since the adoption of the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea. The occasion provides an opportunity to review and renew commitments to the ocean – its governance, its sustainable use and its conservation.