UN chief launches new initiative to protect oceans
S KOREA: The UN chief Sunday announced an initiative to
protect oceans from pollution and over-fishing and to combat rising sea
levels which threaten hundreds of millions of the world's people.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the “Oceans
Compact” initiative sets out a strategic vision for the UN system to
more effectively tackle the “precarious state” of the world's seas.
Ban highlighted the “grave threat” from pollution, excessive fishing
and global warming.
“Our oceans are heating and expanding,” he said in a speech to a
conference marking the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Law
of the Sea.
“We risk irrevocable changes in processes that we barely comprehend,
such as the great currents that affect weather patterns.
“Ocean acidification (from absorbed carbon emissions) is eating into
the very basis of our ocean life; and sea level rise threatens to
re-draw the global map at the expense of hundreds of millions of the
world's most vulnerable people.” The UN chief, who also called for
action to curb piracy and irregular sea migration, said he hoped for
progress towards a legally binding framework to combat “runaway climate
change” at a UN conference in Doha in November.
But action could also be taken now.
Ban said the Compact was aimed at “improving the health of the
oceans” and strengthening their management through an action plan to be
overseen by a high-level advisory group.
This would be made up of senior policymakers, scientists and ocean
experts, representatives from the private sector and civil society and
leaders of the UN organisations involved.
AFP |