Last Friday, the third United Nations conference on the oceans (UNOC3) where more than 170 countries have gone hand in hand to adopt an entire decalogue of oceans in the form of urgent measures.
Key measures where they do not forget the necessary marine protection, the brake on the contamination of the waters of Mares and Oceános, the regulation of the high seas, as well as the financing of the island nations that are in a more vulnerable situation.
“We close this historical week not only with hope, but with a specific commitment, a clear direction and an undeniable impulse”Li Junhua, deputy general secretary of the UN economic and social affairs, and responsible for the summit that this year has been developed in Nice.
World Agreement for the urgent protection of the seas and oceans in the UNOC3
The ships of the port of Nice made their sirens sound this Friday, at a time of world unity when the third United Nations Conference on the oceans were closed. Moments before, more than 170 countries had approved by consensus a broad political statement in which they promised urgent measures to protect the oceans.
“We close this historical week not only with hope, but with a specific commitment, a clear direction and an undeniable impulse,” Li Junhua, deputy secretary of the UN economic and social affairs, and responsible for the summit told the press.
Jointly organized by France and Costa Rica, The five -day event brought together 15,000 participants, more than 60 heads of state and government, on the Mediterranean coast of France.
With more than 450 parallel acts and almost 100,000 visitors, the meeting, baptized as UNOC3, took advantage of the impulse of the previous summits on the oceans held in New York (2017) and Lisbon (2022). He culminated with a common appeal to expand marine protection, stop pollution, regulate the high seas and unlock financing for vulnerable coastal and insular nations.
The result of the conference, known as Nice Action Plan on the oceansis a two -part frame that includes a political declaration and more than 800 voluntary commitments of governments, scientists, UN agencies and civil society from the previous conference.
“These commitments range from the promotion by young people to the literacy of the ecosystems of the seabed, the creation of capacity in science and innovation, and the commitment to ratify the intergovernmental treaties”said Li.
The commitments presented this week reflect the amplitude of the ocean crisis. The European Commission announced an investment of 1000 million euros to support the conservation of the oceans, science and sustainable fishing, while French Polynesia promised to create the largest protected marine zone in the world, which will cover its entire exclusive economic zone, about five million square kilometers.
Germany launched a program of 100 million euros to withdraw underwater ammunition from the Baltic and North seas. In addition, New Zealand compromised 52 million dollars to reinforce the governance of the oceans in the Pacific, and Spain announced five new protected marine areas.
A coalition of 37 countries led by Panama and Canada launched the coalition of great ambition by a quiet ocean to deal with underwater noise pollution. Meanwhile, Indonesia and the World Bank introduced a coral bonus to help finance the conservation of reefs in the country.
“The waves of change have formed,” Li said. “Now it is our collective responsibility to promote them, for our people, our planet and future generations.”
A diplomatic scenario
The summit opened on Monday, June 9 with hard warnings. “We are not dealing with the ocean as what it is: the world’s common good par excellence,” said UN Secretary General, António Guterres, along with the presidents of France and Costa Rica, Emmanuel Macron and Rodrigo Chaves Robles, who advocated a renewed multilateralism anchored in science.
On Friday, the special envoy of France for the conference, Olivier Poivre D’Arvor, recalled what was at stake: “We wanted in Nice (…) risk a transformative change. I think we have advanced, but we can no longer go back.”
One of the main objectives of the conference was to accelerate the advances in the Treaty of the high seas, known as the BBNJ Agreement, adopted in 2023 to safeguard marine life in international waters. 60 ratifications are needed to enter into force. During the past week, 19 countries ratified the agreement, with what the total number until Friday amounted to 50. “It is a significant victory,” said Poivre D’Arvor. “It is very difficult to work now in the ocean when the United States is so little involved.”
The French envoy alluded to the absence of a high -level American delegation, as well as to the recent executive order of President Donald Trump that promotes mining in deep water. “The sea depths are not for sale,” he said, echoing the statements made earlier of the week by President Macron.
However, Poivre D’Arvor emphasized the broad agreement reached at the summit. “A country may miss,” he said. “But 92% of the ‘co -owners’ were present today in Nice.”
His Costa Rican counterpart, Arnoldo André-Tinoco, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the country, urged other nations to accelerate financing for ocean protection. “Each commitment must account”, He affirmed at the closing meeting of the conference.
Impulse and proof
For Peter Thomson, a special enu of the UN for the oceans, Nice marked a turning point. “It is not so much what happens at the conference, but what happens later,” UNU told news, remembering the first days of the defense of the oceans, when the objective of sustainable development number 14 (SDG14), on life underwater was established for the first time.
“From the desert in which we were in 2015 (…) to where we are now, where this incredible commitment is seen.”
Looking ahead, attention is already focused on the fourth United Nations Conference on the oceans, which Chile and South Korea will organize together in 2028.
Thomson predicted that from now on “there will be a great increase.” He expressed his hope that by then the main world agreements, such as the BBNJ treaty, the BBNJ, have been ratified and put into practice Agreement on fishing grants from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the future world treaty on plastic.
The 2028 summit will also mark a decisive moment, since the SDG 14 is close to its 2030 goal.
“What will we do when the SDG 14 reaches its maturity in 2030?” Thomson asked.
“If small countries can take such important measures, why can’t great countries?”
Despite the festive tone, the tensions persisted. The small island states in development demanded a more forceful language about losses and damage, That is, the damages caused by climate change that go beyond what people can adapt.
“There can be no statement about the oceans without the small island states in development,” warned a delegate at the beginning of the week.
Others, such as President Chaves of Costa Rica, requested a moratorium for the mining exploitation of seabed in international waters until science can evaluate the risks, a measure that was not included in the final declaration.
Even so, the political declaration adopted in Nice, entitled Our ocean, our future: United for urgent action, reaffirms the objective of protecting 30% of oceans and land by 2030while supporting world frames such as the Kunming-Montreal Agreement on Biodiversity (adopted in 2022, by which nations undertake to stop and invest the loss of nature by 2030 through ambitious conservation objectives and sustainable management of biodiversity) and the climatic objectives of the international maritime organization.
“The real test,” said Li, “is not what we said here in Nice, but what we do later.” When the sun hid after the promenade des Anglais and closed the last plenary session of the conference, the sea, old, vital and threatened, He was a silent witness of a fragile but shared promise. ECOticias.com