Pressemitteilung zum Abschluss der UN Ocean Conference, 27th June – 1st July 2022, Lisbon, Portugal.
The United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC), which took place in Lisbon from Monday, 27th June to 1st July, ends today with the adoption of its key output, a high-level political declaration. There was agreement that the ocean is in a critical state of decline and under the current trajectory and business as usual, states are on the fast track to fail meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14. The atmosphere was hence one of urgency but also hope.
OceanCare concludes the following:
«The shipping industry should live up to its obligation to significantly reduce the ecological footprint in support of achieving the SDGs. OceanCare believes it is absolutely necessary to legislate and impose these mandatory speed reduction measures. Experience shows that voluntary guidelines do not work. Legislation is needed to solve this problem», declares Carlos Bravo, Ocean Policy Expert at OceanCare.
«Compared to other marine pollution issues, the discussion on ocean noise in the Interactive Dialogues was limited at UNOC with only a handful mentions highlighting it. This is all the more regretable as it is one of the few forms of pollution whose impacts can be stopped immediatly as soon as we take action to remove it.», says Nadia Deckert, OceanCare Ocean Policy Expert.
Plastic Pollution
«The challenges will be for such a treaty to become legally binding, to cover the full lifecycle of plastics, from extraction of fossil fuels as feedstock for plastics to waste management. It will require clear reduction targets on plastic production and the application of the polluter pays principle and the creation of a dedicated fund», says McLellan.
Deep Sea Mining
OceanCare welcomes this clear stance by France and hopes that this will trigger similar commitments from other states all around the world.
Protection of the High Seas
Civil Society Participation
«Restricting civil society participation and limiting the opportunity to raise the voices on the floor continues to be a worrying signal and runs counter to the pillars of inclusiveness and transparency that the international system has subscribed itself to», says McLellan.
«The Second Ocean Conference needs to be viewed as part of a longer progress towards the achievement of the UN Agenda 2030. OceanCare demands that governments and other stakeholders implement all the actions that they have committed to with the urgency that is necessary», concludes Carlos Bravo, Ocean Policy Expert at OceanCare.
OceanCare
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