A global oceans summit on Friday wrapped up with world leaders taking major steps toward marine protection and vowing a showdown when nations meet to negotiate rules for deep-sea mining next month.
However, as a cacophony of ship foghorns sounded the close of the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, a lack of funding pledges and the total omission of fossil fuels disappointed some observers.
The summit was just the third — and largest yet — dedicated entirely to what the UN calls an “emergency” in the world’s oceans.
Photo: Reuters
More than 60 heads of state and government joined thousands of business leaders, scientists and environmental campaigners over five days in the southern city of Nice.
There was unanimous praise for efforts to ratify the high seas treaty designed to protect marine life in the 60 percent of oceans that lie beyond national waters.
About 19 countries formally ratified the pact at Nice, taking the overall tally to 50 — but 60 nations are needed to bring the treaty into force.
France’s oceans envoy, Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, said the numbers would be reached by September and the treaty should take effect by January next year.
High Seas Alliance director Rebecca Hubbard welcomed the “incredible progress” but urged “all remaining nations to ratify without delay.”
The summit sought collective action on oceans even as countries brace for tough talks over deep-sea mining next month and a plastic pollution treaty in August.
More than 90 ministers called in Nice for the treaty to enshrine limits on plastic production — something fiercely opposed by oil-producing nations.
The summit also rallied behind a defense of science and rules-based oversight of common resources — most notably the unknown depths of the oceans — in a direct rebuke of US President Donald Trump.
Trump was not present in Nice and rarely mentioned by name, but his shadow loomed as leaders thundered against his unilateral push to mine the ocean floor for nickel and minerals.
France and like-minded countries vowed to block any effort to permit deep-sea exploration at negotiations over a mining code at the International Seabed Authority next month, Poivre d’Arvor said.
“Nobody knows what is there in the deep sea... You cannot launch recklessly down this path,” he said in a closing address.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged caution, warning against turning the deep sea into “the wild west.”
Leaders “made it unmistakably clear: Deep-sea mining is one of the biggest threats facing our ocean, and the world is saying no,” Deep Sea Conservation Coalition campaign director Sofia Tsenikli said.
However, for all the rhetoric, a global alliance opposed to deep-sea mining only attracted four new members at Nice, rising to 37 nations.
Greece, Samoa and Colombia were among 14 nations who unveiled plans for vast new marine protected areas, taking the share of the world’s oceans under conservation to more than 10 percent.
Some also announced restrictions on bottom trawling, a destructive fishing method captured in grisly detail in a new David Attenborough documentary.
Activists had pushed for a total ban on this kind of trawling, which uses heavy weighted nets dragged across the ocean floor.
Developing nations hoping their larger and wealthier counterparts would open the checkbook in Nice were disappointed.
Small island nations in particular have long complained they lack the finances required to build seawalls against rising tides and protect their waters from illegal fishers.
While private donors pledged around 8.7 billion euros (US$10.05 billion) over the next five years, the UN says US$175 billion a year is needed for sustainable ocean development.
SPEAKING OUT: After Siranudh Scott’s allegations surfaced, celebrities and public figures took to social media to share their own experiences of sexual misconduct and abuse A high-profile alleged sexual abuse case within a wealthy Thai beer brewing family has prompted a wave of painful accounts from survivors of unconnected abuse in the conservative nation. Siranudh Scott, a member of the billionaire Thai family that founded the ubiquitous Singha beer brand, posted an emotional video this month accusing his elder brother Sunit of repeatedly abusing him when he was a teenager. Sunit, who is in his 30s, later denied the allegations in a video posted online, but Singha parent Boonrawd dismissed him from his executive role with the company on Tuesday last week. “I felt I needed to speak
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
A Hong Kong astronaut is to join a Chinese space mission for the first time as part of a three-person crew launching today, as Beijing edges closer to its goal of landing people on the moon. The Tiangong space station — crewed by teams of three astronauts that are typically rotated every six months — is the crown jewel of China’s space program, boosted by billions in state investment in a bid to catch up with the US and Russia. The Shenzhou-23 mission is to blast off at 11:08pm from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, carrying three astronauts to
UPGRADED ALERT: The risk inside DR Congo is now considered ‘very high,’ while neighboring countries face a ‘high’ threat as the outbreak continues, the WHO said Ebola is spreading faster than responders can track it in eastern Congo, where health workers managed to follow up with barely one in five identified contacts in a single day. Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) reported 83 confirmed infections, 746 suspected cases and 1,603 identified contacts as of Thursday, but health workers were able to follow up on only 342 contacts that day — about 21 percent of the total under monitoring — data released by the DR Congo Ministry of Public Health on Friday showed. The figures suggest the response is falling behind the outbreak itself,
RSS