Another United Nation Conference, Another Opportunity? Or not
- Paul Watson
- 25 mai
- 4 min de lecture
By Captain Paul Watson – Co-founder of Greenpeace, Founder of Sea Shepherd and Founder of the Captain Paul Watson Foundation.
I have been involved with attending international conferences on the environment since the 1972 United Nations Conference in Stockholm, Sweden. I attended and spoke at the Rio de Janeiro conference on the Environment and Development in 1992 and I spoke at the 2015 Climate Change Conference in Paris.
After 53 years I can attest to the one thing that all these conferences had in common.
Lots of talks, lots of promises and near zero follow up with meaningful action.
At the 1992 Rio conference, Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland introduced the word “sustainability” which has come to mean business as usual, a marketing term and certainly not an ecological strategy.
And today the Climate Conferences are being sponsored by Coca Cola and co-opted by the Fossil Fuel Industries.
Not a goddamn thing has changed in over half a century except escalating diminishment, rising temperatures, increased pollution and collapsing eco-systems.
And the talk goes on.
So, what can we expect from the upcoming United Nations Conference on the Ocean? (June 9-13) (Nice, France)
I think there is one goal that must absolutely be met to make the conference a success and that is the ratification of the High Seas Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty.
This conference provides the opportunity to enlist the 60 nations required for ratification of the treaty.
If this one thing can be achieved, this UNOC will see a major achievement. If ratification is not secured, it will be a condemnation for the lack of international unity. If this is not achieved the conference will join the long list of international conferences on the environment and climate that have accomplished nothing.
This conference provides the opportunity to enlist just 60 nations required for ratification of the treaty.
Other priorities are seabed mining, marine plastic pollution, over-fishing, illegal fishing and whaling and the diminishment of phytoplankton in the sea.
For over a half a century I have been saying consistently that if the Ocean dies, we die!
At every conference this message falls on deaf ears.
Industrial fishing survives because of massive government subsidies. If diversity in the sea is to survive there must be an end to these subsidies and a substantial moratorium on heavy gear industrialized fishing.
The one thing that I find encouraging is the invitation by the Mayor of Nice to invite mayors from the coastal cities around the world to the conference to discuss marine protected areas and issues directly linked to marine ecology in their cities. I have always seen more aggressive environmental action on municipal levels than on state or national levels.
And of course, the most important part of international conferences is the opportunity for non-governmental organizations to network with each other to educate and strategize. I am looking forward to speaking alongside Chief Raoni from Amazonia again as we did in Paris in 2015. I am also looking forward to speaking with activists from around the world.
We need to push the agenda of opposition to seabed mining now that it has been given the green light by Donald Trump, and it is encouraging to have the support of the government of France on this extremely important issue.
The conference in Nice (June 9 -13) is close to Antibes where Sea Shepherd France is working to build a sanctuary for the Orcas and dolphins that Marineland had abandoned because of the law in France prohibiting the cruel exhibit of captive cetaceans. We owe it to these animals to give them a home in a safe sea pen sanctuary after the many years of abusive treatment.
The issue of plastic marine debris is begging for a solution as every year some eleven million tons of plastic is dumped into the sea. Two million tons come from the fishing industry and a solution to this is to eliminate the use of plastic in nets, fishlines, floats and equipment.
We must seriously address the danger of phytoplankton diminishment in the sea. There has been a 40% diminishment since 1950 of the number of aquatic plants that produce up to 70% of the oxygen in the atmosphere. This diminishment also reduced the amount of CO2 that can be sequestered by phytoplankton. This diminishment of nutrients required by phytoplankton is directly attributable to the diminishment of the marine life that provides the nutrients with their feces and bodies.
Solutions must be found for all the challenges that confront life, diversity and interdependence of species in the sea. Such solutions will not be implemented easily in the face of enormous pressure from industry and vested corporate interests, but it is imperative that solutions be found to protect the security and the future of all living species in the sea and on land.
We are the Ocean, and we need to protect ourselves and all our children for generations to come.
Once again, the human world has an opportunity to change course on this highway to ecological hell. The question is, will be actually do something this time or will we ignore this opportunity to make a difference?
Sixty ratified signatures. It is all we need to take the first steps to defending life, diversity and interdependence of species in the sea.
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