First modification:
Without agreements but with some promises, the three-day One Ocean Summit concluded in Brest, France, on February 11. French President Emmanuel Macron announced his intention to expand the French Southern Territories National Nature Reserve, which will thus become the second largest marine protected area in the world.
In the absence of international regulations to protect the oceans, some governments are trying to take unilateral steps. At the close of the One Ocean Summit, France promised measures to safeguard the bodies of water under its jurisdiction.
The host of the summit, President Emmanuel Macron, announced this Friday, February 11, the expansion of the national nature reserve of the French Southern Territories, which will thus become the second largest marine protected area in the world.
With the extension of the protection perimeter to all maritime areas of the Crozet and Kerguelen archipelagos and the Saint-Paul and Amsterdam islands, administered by the French Southern and Antarctic Territories, this nature reserve will now cover 1.6 million square kilometers, as detailed by the Presidency and the Ministry of Ecology.
“2022 will be a decisive year, we should make clear and firm commitments here in Brest (…) Europe has a key role to play,” Macron said.
In the meeting that was attended by representatives of 40 countries, the United States joined the intentions of maritime protection.
In a joint statement, Paris and Washington indicated that they would support the launch of negotiations on a global agreement to address the full life cycle of plastics and promote a circular economy. The proposal, they pointed out, will be taken to the next summit of the United Nations environmental assembly, which begins in Nairobi on February 28.
“It is the ocean that makes life possible on Earth, it produces more than half of the oxygen we breathe and even that is in danger (…) the ocean and the climate are inextricably linked, they are the same,” said the special envoy for the US Climate, John Kerry.
Also in Brest, the United Nations cultural agency, UNESCO, announced that at least 80% of the world’s seabed will be mapped by 2030, compared to 20% today.
The protection of the oceans, a key factor to mitigate global warming
These discussions take place amid threats to the planet such as overfishing and plastic pollution, and as European authorities investigate a massive fish dump in the Bay of Biscay. A fact that environmental activists consider an example of the abuses that alter underwater ecosystems.
The oceans make up 70% of the Earth and have the particularity of being both the part most affected by polluting actions, and the fundamental tool to overcome the greatest threat facing humanity: global warming.
The France 24 correspondent in Madrid and specialist in the environment, Marina Colorado, points out that “the oceans are the true lungs of the planet, they absorb a large amount of CO2 and the sea currents are essential to dictate the world’s weather patterns.”
For this reason, it is essential to achieve global agreements that protect maritime ecosystems if global warming is to be mitigated.
This is not and will not be the first summit of world leaders around the need for actions to counteract the problem, such as the global goal of achieving zero net carbon emissions by 2050. A promise taken up at the last Cop26 summit in Glasgow , Scotland.
Costa Rica, France and Great Britain launched an intergovernmental environmental group in 2019 to set a goal of protecting at least 30% of land and sea by 2030. The High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People now includes 83 countries.
“The health of our oceans is at risk (…) We are already late, so we need a shock to have new solid commitments and also to comply with past commitments,” warned Nicolás Imbert, executive director of the non-governmental organization Green Cross. .
There is still great uncertainty about whether world leaders will translate their words into deeds that will stop global warming.
With Reuters and AP