Nice, France – The third of the United Nations, the United Nations conference is opened on Monday such as the tanks pressures to convert decades of promises to actual sea protection.
Summit comes like just 2.7% of the ocean is effectively protected From destructive extractive activities, according to the non-profit institute for the protection of marine preservations. It is far below the goal agreed under the pledge “30×30” to preserve 30% of the land and the sea until 2030. years.
Atop this year’s agenda is ratification High sea contract. Adopted in 2023. The contract would for the first time to establish the nations to establish marine protected areas in international waters, covering almost two-thirds of the ocean and are mostly worshipers.
“It is a wild west with countries that only fish in the fishing, and that must change,” said Mauro Randon, regional manager for regional projects at the Mediterranean sea sea sea sea seashore initiative for regional projects. “Great Must fall to everyone and no one is practically at the same time, and countries finally be committed to establishing some rules.”
The ocean is critical in the stabilization of the Earth’s climate and the maintenance of life. Generates 50% of the oxygen that inhale, bring about 30% of carbon dioxide emissions and records more than 90% of excess heat caused by these shows. Without a healthy ocean, experts warn, climate targets will remain out of reach.
The contract will enter into force once the 60 countries are ratified. Monday, only 32 countries had. Proponents hopes that UNEC can build enough swings to cross the threshold, which would enable the first official conference of the parties.
“Two-thirds of the ocean are an area outside the national jurisdiction – it is half of our planet,” Minna Epps said, director of the Global Ocean Policy International Union for nature conservation. “We cannot protect 30% of the ocean if it does not include large sea.”
South Korea, France and the European Union They contracted the contract, but most large ocean nations have yet to ratify, including the rest of the G20. Thousands of participants are expected in beautiful – from delegates and heads of states to scientists and industry leaders. The United States has yet to confirm the formal delegation.
In addition to new liabilities, the conference points out the growing gap between the declarations of marine protection and conservation in the real world.
France, conference associate, claims that they surpassed 30% of the goal for marine protection. But environmental groups say that only 3% of French waters are completely protected from harmful activities such as the bottom of bark and industrial fishing.
Alone in 2024. There were more than 100 Lower traction vessels in the amount of 17,000 hours of fishing in French six marine parks, according to the Ocean Address Ocean.
“The government declares it as protected areas, but it is a lie,” Enric Sala, the founder of the National Geographic Prizerve Reserve. “Most are a political box indicating. All are all paper parks.”
This criticism is resonated across the continent. New World Fund Report for Wildlife Discovered that although more than 11% of the European area of Europe have been determined for protection, only 2% of EU water has management plans.
Fabien Boileau, director of marine protected areas in the French Biodiversity Office, recognized the presence of the DNA Korea in French protected areas, but it was said that it was part of the phase phase.
“In France, we elected elections for the labeling of large marine protected areas with relatively low levels of the Regulation, betting in order to develop stronger protection over time through local government,” he said. “Today, we gradually increases the number of zones with stricter protection within those areas.”
While many marine protected surfaces are struggling with execution, others show which actual protection can achieve. On the south coast of France, the port-Cros National Park is one of the oldest sharks in the Mediterranean. There, strictly anchoring forbidden enabled separate meadows of seagrass to grow unobstructed. Solid groupers Patrols Shaney Eutcrops, brightly colored nudibranchs munch on algae, and large-made schools slide through the shallows, unobstructed fishing lines.
“Thanks to the protection that existed since 1963. year, we can observe species that are much greater than elsewhere in Mediterranean and more density than in other areas,” Hubert Flavigny, manager Mio Palmo Dive Center in Hyeres, France.
However, such examples remain exceptions.
Proponents say that the industrial fishing lobby continues to resist stricter protection, despite the evidence that well-managed reserves increase long-term fisheries through the “spill effect”, which flourishes the sea in nearby waters.
“Protection is not a problem – surge is a problem,” Hall said. “The worst enemy of the fishing industry is alone.”
Frustrated by government inactive, ecological groups have taken execution into their own hands. In May, Greenpeace He dropped 15 limestone boulders in the French Golf Du Lion, aimed at physically blocking the bottom of the bark in the marine area that has long been determined for protection. The protected zone was founded in 2008. years to preserve the ecosystem of deep sea ecosystems, then continue 12 towers there. Golf is now one of the most tapped areas in the Mediterranean.
The conference will contain 10 panels on topics such as blue finance, sustainable fisheries and plastic pollution. Deeply sea mining is expected to contain in wider discussions, while the countries of the small islands use the advocacy platform for reinforced climate adjustments. The outcome of these discussions will form the basis of the beautiful ocean action plan – a statement of voluntary obligations that will be adopted by consensus and presented in the United Nations in New York this July.
“There can be no healthy planet without a healthy ocean,” said Peter Thomson, the UN Special Envoy for the Ocean. “It’s an urgent business for all of us.” ___
Follow Annik Hammerschlag on Instagram @Ahammergram.
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2025-06-09 03:26:00
