The United Nations Ocean Conference, co-hosted by the governments of Kenya and Portugal, was started on Monday, June 27, in Lisbon and lasts until July 1. The aim of the Conference is to stimulate science-based solutions for sustainable management of the oceans. As it is adopted in 2015, “Life Below Water” is part of “the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” composed of 17 transformative goals. To this extent, the UN declared the 2021-2030 period as the “Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development” in order to contribute to our understanding of the oceans. To this end, green technology and innovative uses of marine resources” are highlighted as the solutions for the “threats to health, ecology, economy, and governance of the ocean acidification, marine litter and pollution, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and the loss of habits and biodiversity”.
At the Conference gathered to discuss such issues, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres made a call in his opening speech to the international community to “unite” around the goals to protect and preserve our seas. In the later part of his speech, he outlined four recommendations “to open a new chapter of global ocean action”:
1) To invest in sustainable ocean economies,
2) To make the oceans the model for managing the global commons
3) To invest in “climate-resilient coastal infrastructure” to protect the people from the climate change
4) More science and innovation
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