Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the Blue Economy and Finance Forum of the Third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC 3). (Photo: Duong Giang/VNA)
Co-hosted by France and Costa Rica, the conference is a forum to address the challenges facing the world's oceans, seas and marine resources, such as rising sea levels, increasing global ocean temperatures, and the acidification of the world's oceans, which are approaching thresholds that can no longer sustain marine life or help stabilize the climate.
This conference focuses on three main areas: promoting the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, eliminating damaging subsidies in global fisheries production, and promoting global efforts to protect 30% of the world's land and sea areas by 2030, also known as the 30x30 initiative, adopted by countries at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, Canada, in December 2022.
The top priority will be to accelerate the ratification of the International Legal Instrument on Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, called the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), also known as the High Seas Treaty.
Adopted in 2023, the agreement aims to protect marine ecosystems in international waters.
To officially come into force, the agreement needs to be ratified by at least 60 countries by September 20, 2025. To date, only 32 countries have completed this procedure.
Speaking ahead of the conference, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed: “The goal of this conference in Nice is to have at least 60 countries ratify to ensure the agreement comes into force. We have not yet achieved that goal... There is still a lot of work to do.”
Brazilian President Lula da Silva called on countries to take concrete actions, rather than commitments, to protect the ocean.
Regarding the second focus, prohibiting harmful subsidies to global fisheries and fisheries production is considered a major cause of the depletion of the world's fish stocks.
Although the World Trade Organization (WTO) adopted the relevant agreement in June 2022, the document still needs to be formally ratified by two-thirds of its members - equivalent to 111 countries - to take effect, but so far only 101 countries have completed the procedure.
At the conference, France and the UK both announced measures to clamp down on bottom trawling, a form of fishing that damages the oceans and accelerates climate change.
Britain plans to extend the ban to 30,000 square kilometres of 41 marine reserves in British waters.
Meanwhile, French President Macron said the country will restrict bottom trawling in some marine reserves.
In addition, the conference is also an opportunity to promote innovative financial solutions, such as green bonds and green loans specifically for the ocean sector, to close the financial gap for marine conservation goals, which are the least funded sustainable development goals of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The conference is not intended to adopt a legally binding document, but is expected to be a turning point in global efforts to protect the ocean./.
According to VNA
Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/three-in-three-mainstreams-of-the-lien-hop-quoc-251498.htm
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