More than 7,000 people, including representatives from 140 countries, some at the highest level, will participate from this Monday in Lisbon in the second United Nations Conference on the Oceans, the largest event ever dedicated to the subject.
After the first conference took place five years ago in New York, Portugal, together with Kenya, organizes the second meeting, under the motto “Save the oceans, protect the future“.
This is the issue that brings together politicians from Monday to Friday, including 25 heads of state and government and a hundred ministers, at least 38 specialized agencies and international organizations, almost 1,200 non-governmental organizations and other entities, more than 400 companies and one hundred and a half universities.
The numbers mark the conference in Portugal the largest event ever held over the oceanstheir problems, how to protect them or economic opportunities, considering that a “green transition” is only possible with a “blue transition”, which is the sustainable use of the oceans, based on science and technology.
These will be the central themes of the event, which takes place mainly in the Altice Arena, Parque das Nações, whose main program includes another three hundred events, four of them special, organized by Portugal, a high-level symposium on water, this Monday , and a forum on sustainable blue economy and investment on Tuesday.
Over the weekend, a seminar was held in Matosinhos on the theme “Locating the action on the other side of the ocean: local and regional governments”.
And also ended on Sunday a Youth Forumwith more than a hundred young people from all continents, gathered to inspire, amplify and accelerate the action of the youngest in defense of the oceans, in whose closing session was the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, who also participated at the beginning of the work, and the President of the Republic of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Until Friday, topics such as the fight against marine pollution, the promotion and strengthening of sustainable economies based on the oceans, the management and conservation of marine and coastal ecosystems, the minimization of acidification, deoxygenation and warming of the oceans, the sustainability of fisheries, the increase of scientific knowledge and marine technology, improving the sustainable use of the oceans and improving the links between Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 (protect marine life) and other Goals of the 2030 Agenda.
Portugal, as the Government has announced, hopes that the Lisbon Declaration will emerge from the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC), which will help achieve SDG 14, which accelerate the fight against pollution and increase the preservation of biodiversity and sustainability. And that the notion of the importance of the oceans in the fight against climate change is generalized.
The oceans are responsible for producing half of the planet’s oxygen, are home to more than 220,000 species and support three billion people. They also absorb 91% of the atmosphere’s extra heat and a substantial part of carbon dioxide emissions, making them critical in the fight against climate change.
And it is to remember this connection, that “Saving the ocean is saving the climate” that more than 60 organizations from around the world have mobilized in a Blue March for Climate, scheduled for Wednesday in Lisbon and which will end next to the pavilion where the Conference is taking place.
Civil society organizations want, among other measures, the creation of a global network of marine protected areas that covers 30% of the seas and the end of subsidies for unsustainable fishing.
Taking advantage of the week of the Conference, hundreds of parallel actions related to the oceans take place in Lisbon, from civil society, whether for information, protest or awareness. And several others also take place in the Portuguese capital at the hands of the UNOC, such as the 4th edition, this Monday, of the “Belgo-Portuguese Routes for the Blue Economy”.
There are also hundreds of bilateral meetings between the political leaders present.
Among the at least 16 heads of state that will be present this week in Portugal are those from Angola, France (a country currently holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union), Norway and Colombia. The presidents of Kenya and Nigeria make state visits to Portugal.
The United States is represented by John Kerry, President Joe Biden’s special envoy for climate. From Russia comes Ruslan Edelgeriyev, adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin on ocean and climate issues.
The permanent representation of Portugal will be made up, specifically, of the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Economy and the Sea, together with the Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Internationalization and the sea.
The UNOC in Lisbon was approved by the UN in 2019 and should have been in 2020, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Source: Observadora
