The world conference “Our Ocean” opened Thursday in Panama with calls to seal as soon as possible an international treaty discussed in parallel with the UN to protect international waters and to monitor illegal fishing by satellite.
The “Our Ocean” conference is incredibly important because it is a conference focused on action, not words. These are real commitments and real solutions,” said John Kerry, the White House’s special envoy for the climate, opening the meeting.
Taking him at his word, the European Union (EU) announced in a press release that in 2023 it will devote more than 800 million euros to programs for the protection of the sea: “the EU confirms its firm commitment to the governance of the oceans by announcing 39 concrete commitments for the year 2023. These actions will be financed to the tune of 816.5 million euros” (approximately 1.2 billion Canadian dollars).
Some 600 delegates from governments, businesses and NGOs will discuss for two days the framework to be given to the “blue economy” (the oceanic equivalent of the green economy) for the sustainable exploitation and protection of the seas and oceans.
They will discuss ways to expand marine protected areas, reduce pollution from plastics and other litter, combat illegal fishing and curb underwater mining.
Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo opened the conference by signing a decree expanding the Banco Volcan Marine Protected Area in the Caribbean Sea from 14,000 to 93,000 square kilometers.
Thus, Panama “will protect 54.33% of its exclusive maritime zone”, underlined the Panamanian Minister of the Environment Milciades Concepcion.
“We hope (that) more than 300 new commitments” will be made for the protection of marine resources “in the short, medium and long term”, with “the mobilization of public and private financial resources”, according to the Panamanian Vice Minister of Affairs foreign Yill Otero.
Treated for the high seas
In a pre-summit meeting, representatives from the European Union, the United States, Latin America and the Pacific Islands called on the New York negotiators of the high seas treaty, under discussion for over fifteen years at the UN, to be achieved as quickly as possible.
“Let’s seal the deal,” said French Secretary of State for the Sea, Hervé Berville. “We’re very close,” said US State Department oceans official Maxine Burkett.
“We hope that all countries reach an ambitious agreement,” said the meeting’s moderator, Maximiliano Bello, of the NGO Mission Blue.
“The high seas make up half the surface of the planet, far from national jurisdictions, and only a dozen countries have come to use it (exploit it) in a rather disruptive way,” Bello explained to l AFP.
The high seas begin where the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of the States end, at a maximum of 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the coasts and are therefore not under the jurisdiction of any country.
Representing more than 60% of the oceans and almost half of the planet, it is crucial for the protection of the entire ocean, itself vital for humanity but threatened by climate change, pollution and overfishing.
On Wednesday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on negotiators from member countries who have been meeting in New York since February 20 until Friday to finally conclude a “robust and ambitious” treaty on the high seas.
” Under pressure “
“Our ocean has been under pressure for decades. We can no longer ignore the urgency for the ocean,” he said.
The “Our Ocean” conferences were launched in 2014 on the initiative of John Kerry, then head of American diplomacy.
“Our Ocean” offers a unique forum to address all issues related to the sea. In Panama there are more than 200 NGOs, 60 research centers, 14 philanthropy structures and a hundred companies and international organizations.
Participants will not vote or adopt an agreement but will announce voluntary “commitments”.
Several organizations have come together to demand more transparency from governments about overfishing.
“In many countries there is overfishing and hardly anyone knows about it,” warned Valeria Merino of the Fisheries Transparency Initiative.
NGOs are advocating for better use of satellites to monitor boats.
“A third of commercial (sea) species are overfished,” insisted Mónica Espinoza of Global Fishing Watch, an NGO that monitors boats by satellite.
Governments must “demand that their fishing fleets be traceable, all the time, by satellite so that we know they are fishing honestly,” Andrew Sharpless, executive director of the NGO Oceana, told AFP.