The European Union's environment chief says 2022 must be the year for an ambitious agreement to protect the world's oceans, and tackle the global crisis of plastic pollution, especially at sea. A series of international conferences will focus on the issue this year. Virginijus Sinkevicius, the EU commissioner for environment, oceans and fisheries, told a UN news conference that precious time to save nature and the oceans has been lost over the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 27-member bloc is determined to move ahead quickly to steer "a global green transition". He said: "This year must be the year of the oceans. This year must be the year of biodiversity ... it is essential to get plastics under control and the only way to do it is globally. "This year we must find a window of opportunity to reach agreements that will change the world for better." "Without acting on this front, we won't succeed in solving the climate crisis," he warned, "because the finest technologies to solve the climate crisis are not sophisticated machines. They are trees, oceans and healthy ecosystems." The Lithuanian politician said that at a conference in Kunming, China beginning in late April, there must be "a genuinely transformative moment for biodiversity, and this requires a strong political engagement from all at the highest level". The most important outcome at that conference should be agreement to protect 30 per cent of the planet's land and oceans by 2030, and also restore degraded ecosystems, he said. This requires additional funding, and the EU Commission has doubled funding for biodiversity, which means a billion euro a year, he said, and it is looking to similar action from other countries and the private sector. A One Ocean Summit in Brest, France, has been organised by president Emmanuel Macron and the EU from February 9-11. That meeting will be followed by a conference on oceans on April 13-14 in the Pacific island nation of Palau, a biodiversity hotspot about 600 miles east of the Philippines, with 20,000 people scattered across a 250-island tropical archipelago. The EU commissioner said the meeting will focus on illegal, under-reported and unregulated fishing as well as climate issues facing island nations. The main event this year is the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon from June 27-July 1 where Mr Sinkevicius said "the European Union is determined to reach an ambitious agreement on the high seas" with strong monitoring. "These negotiations are a once-in-a-generation opportunity to protect the ocean, and it was very encouraging to discuss with our American friends our common determination to reach a successful conclusion still this year," he said. Mr Sinkevicius said about 140 countries are calling for a negotiating committee to be established to reach a global agreement on controlling plastic pollution, and more than 70 of them said it should be legally binding. Australian Associated Press
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The European Union's environment chief says 2022 must be the year for an ambitious agreement to protect the world's oceans, and tackle the global crisis of plastic pollution, especially at sea.
A series of international conferences will focus on the issue this year.
Virginijus Sinkevicius, the EU commissioner for environment, oceans and fisheries, told a UN news conference that precious time to save nature and the oceans has been lost over the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 27-member bloc is determined to move ahead quickly to steer "a global green transition".
He said: "This year must be the year of the oceans. This year must be the year of biodiversity ... it is essential to get plastics under control and the only way to do it is globally.
"This year we must find a window of opportunity to reach agreements that will change the world for better."
"Without acting on this front, we won't succeed in solving the climate crisis," he warned, "because the finest technologies to solve the climate crisis are not sophisticated machines. They are trees, oceans and healthy ecosystems."
The Lithuanian politician said that at a conference in Kunming, China beginning in late April, there must be "a genuinely transformative moment for biodiversity, and this requires a strong political engagement from all at the highest level".
The most important outcome at that conference should be agreement to protect 30 per cent of the planet's land and oceans by 2030, and also restore degraded ecosystems, he said.
This requires additional funding, and the EU Commission has doubled funding for biodiversity, which means a billion euro a year, he said, and it is looking to similar action from other countries and the private sector.
A One Ocean Summit in Brest, France, has been organised by president Emmanuel Macron and the EU from February 9-11.
That meeting will be followed by a conference on oceans on April 13-14 in the Pacific island nation of Palau, a biodiversity hotspot about 600 miles east of the Philippines, with 20,000 people scattered across a 250-island tropical archipelago.
The EU commissioner said the meeting will focus on illegal, under-reported and unregulated fishing as well as climate issues facing island nations.
The main event this year is the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon from June 27-July 1 where Mr Sinkevicius said "the European Union is determined to reach an ambitious agreement on the high seas" with strong monitoring.
"These negotiations are a once-in-a-generation opportunity to protect the ocean, and it was very encouraging to discuss with our American friends our common determination to reach a successful conclusion still this year," he said.
Mr Sinkevicius said about 140 countries are calling for a negotiating committee to be established to reach a global agreement on controlling plastic pollution, and more than 70 of them said it should be legally binding.
Australian Associated Press
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