Zürcher Nachrichten - UN meet sees blitz of pledges to protect ailing oceans

EUR -
AED 4.049778
AFN 78.834299
ALL 99.033342
AMD 431.456343
ANG 1.973823
AOA 1005.540147
ARS 1184.510488
AUD 1.740106
AWG 1.984619
AZN 1.871047
BAM 1.951157
BBD 2.225918
BDT 133.95119
BGN 1.953417
BHD 0.415629
BIF 3226.660051
BMD 1.102566
BND 1.473074
BOB 7.618042
BRL 6.190801
BSD 1.102437
BTN 94.108603
BWP 15.256919
BYN 3.607729
BYR 21610.297969
BZD 2.214448
CAD 1.554541
CDF 3167.672699
CHF 0.949657
CLF 0.027281
CLP 1046.908381
CNY 8.028391
CNH 8.030442
COP 4581.504452
CRC 555.45727
CUC 1.102566
CUP 29.218005
CVE 110.006211
CZK 25.045922
DJF 195.947771
DKK 7.461959
DOP 69.623267
DZD 146.912551
EGP 55.769964
ERN 16.538493
ETB 145.130438
FJD 2.566609
FKP 0.849767
GBP 0.842206
GEL 3.042781
GGP 0.849767
GHS 17.089472
GIP 0.849767
GMD 78.830087
GNF 9541.515201
GTQ 8.509592
GYD 230.665979
HKD 8.575705
HNL 28.207398
HRK 7.54001
HTG 144.267713
HUF 403.661068
IDR 18465.889357
ILS 4.082247
IMP 0.849767
INR 94.030872
IQD 1444.233926
IRR 46431.844181
ISK 144.314781
JEP 0.849767
JMD 173.672773
JOD 0.781606
JPY 161.04578
KES 142.506807
KGS 95.60528
KHR 4409.646484
KMF 500.014042
KPW 992.369183
KRW 1600.661596
KWD 0.339262
KYD 0.918627
KZT 552.612033
LAK 23885.559894
LBP 98786.765454
LKR 327.39557
LRD 220.466371
LSL 20.781097
LTL 3.255591
LVL 0.666932
LYD 5.33219
MAD 10.487244
MDL 19.686991
MGA 5027.940557
MKD 61.511679
MMK 2314.787019
MNT 3851.769118
MOP 8.833576
MRU 43.813776
MUR 50.023376
MVR 16.990372
MWK 1911.842309
MXN 22.023316
MYR 4.897654
MZN 70.451818
NAD 20.780251
NGN 1695.23982
NIO 40.564638
NOK 11.404074
NPR 150.576289
NZD 1.901293
OMR 0.424466
PAB 1.102556
PEN 4.048086
PGK 4.549174
PHP 62.857624
PKR 309.248804
PLN 4.227851
PYG 8845.546281
QAR 4.019435
RON 4.978193
RSD 117.17297
RUB 92.685108
RWF 1572.964625
SAR 4.136492
SBD 9.180809
SCR 15.773594
SDG 662.092022
SEK 10.787111
SGD 1.473199
SHP 0.866444
SLE 25.171542
SLL 23120.263604
SOS 630.003648
SRD 40.298877
STD 22820.894741
SVC 9.647255
SYP 14336.339478
SZL 20.788701
THB 37.64133
TJS 12.001035
TMT 3.870007
TND 3.373498
TOP 2.582323
TRY 41.871279
TTD 7.474586
TWD 36.451059
TZS 2924.510568
UAH 45.517981
UGX 4017.56488
USD 1.102566
UYU 46.573677
UZS 14239.435486
VES 77.098718
VND 28451.721382
VUV 136.24344
WST 3.123386
XAF 654.272445
XAG 0.034516
XAU 0.000355
XCD 2.97974
XDR 0.825967
XOF 654.373081
XPF 119.331742
YER 270.845622
ZAR 20.688194
ZMK 9924.417531
ZMW 30.622794
ZWL 355.025874
  • RBGPF

    -0.2800

    67.72

    -0.41%

  • RYCEF

    0.0200

    9.8

    +0.2%

  • CMSC

    -0.2100

    22.29

    -0.94%

  • GSK

    1.4150

    39.055

    +3.62%

  • BCC

    -6.6900

    95.38

    -7.01%

  • NGG

    3.8250

    69.605

    +5.5%

  • SCS

    -0.5350

    10.925

    -4.9%

  • CMSD

    -0.1600

    22.67

    -0.71%

  • RIO

    -1.1300

    58.77

    -1.92%

  • RELX

    0.6500

    51.63

    +1.26%

  • BTI

    1.7950

    42.045

    +4.27%

  • JRI

    -0.1900

    12.85

    -1.48%

  • AZN

    2.0650

    74.285

    +2.78%

  • VOD

    0.2600

    9.38

    +2.77%

  • BCE

    0.6850

    22.505

    +3.04%

  • BP

    -2.2450

    31.565

    -7.11%

UN meet sees blitz of pledges to protect ailing oceans
UN meet sees blitz of pledges to protect ailing oceans / Photo: JUNI KRISWANTO - AFP/File

UN meet sees blitz of pledges to protect ailing oceans

A major UN conference on how to restore the faltering health of global oceans kicked off in Lisbon this week with a flurry of promises to expand marine protected areas, ban deep-sea mining, and combat illegal fishing.

Text size:

UN chief Antonio Guterres set the tone Monday for the five-day meet by warning that the world's oceans are in deep crisis.

"Today we face what I would call an ocean emergency," he told thousands of policymakers, experts and advocates, detailing how seas have been hammered by climate change and pollution.

"The ocean is not a rubbish dump. It is not a source on infinite plunder. It is a fragile system on which we all depend."

Surangel Whipps, Jr., president of the Pacific island state of Palau, asked world leaders to join a moratorium on extracting rare Earth metals from the ocean floor.

"Deep sea mining compromises the integrity of our ocean habitat and should be discouraged to the greatest extent possible," he said, flanked by Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama.

Indigenous leader Debbie Ngawera-Packer, a member of New Zealand's parliament, told conference participants she had submitted a bill calling for such a moratorium in her country's waters.

Companies seeking to mine so-called polymetallic nodules containing manganese, cobalt and nickel say they are a greener source of minerals needed to build electric vehicle batteries.

Scientists counter that seabed ecosystems at depth are fragile, and could take decades or longer to heal once disrupted.

"Mining, wherever it occurs, is well known to have environmental costs," said former US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) chief scientist Sylvia Earle.

- 'No-take' zones -

"On the land at least we can monitor, see and fix problems, and minimise the damage. Six thousand metres (20,000 feet) beneath the surface, who's watching?"

A so-called high ambition coalition, meanwhile -- backing a proposal to set aside 30 percent of the planet's land and ocean surface by 2030 as protected areas -- grew to 100 nations, UK minister of state Zac Goldsmith announced in a side event.

Currently, less than 10 percent of global oceans are protected.

The "30 X 30" plan could be the cornerstone of a treaty slated for completion at a UN biodiversity summit to be held in December in Montreal.

Nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in government, development bank and philanthropic funding to lock-in protection of marine and land ecosystems in Colombia, announced last week, could be the template for other countries.

"Working with scientists, we decided to get 30 percent of our maritime area as protected, and we did it," outgoing Colombian President Ivan Duque told AFP.

More than half of newly protected marine areas will be "no-take" zones off-limits to fishing, mining, drilling or other extractive activities, he said.

The United Sates, European Union nations, Mexico, Canada, Japan and India have joined the 30 x 30 drive, while China, Russia, Indonesia and Brazil have yet to do so.

Steps were also taken Monday to fight illegal fishing, another topic on the table at the long-delayed UN Ocean Conference, originally set for April 2020.

In Washington, US President Joe Biden issued a national security memorandum to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and related labour abuses.

- Wreaking havoc -

The aim is to "make sure that the seafood products that are coming into the US market are caught in accordance with international rules and national rules," a senior administration official told journalists.

A report by the International Trade Commission found that the United States imported $2.4 billion worth of seafood derived from IUU fishing in 2019.

"The ocean is the most underappreciated resource on our planet," Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta told the conference, flanked by co-host Portuguese President Antonio Costa.

Oceans harbour 80 percent of life on Earth and generate 50 percent of the oxygen in the atmosphere.

They also absorb a quarter of CO2 pollution and 90 percent of excess heat from global warming, keeping the planet livable for life on land.

But these services rendered come at a cost.

Sea water has turned acidic, threatening aquatic food chains and the ocean's capacity to absorb carbon. Global warming has spawned massive marine heatwaves that are killing off precious coral reefs and expanding dead zones bereft of oxygen.

"We have only begun to understand the extent to which climate change is going to wreak havoc on ocean health," said Charlotte de Fontaubert, the World Bank's global lead for the blue economy.

Making things worse is an unending torrent of pollution, including a garbage truck's worth of plastic every minute, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

J.Hasler--NZN