Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta called on Monday for the urgent construction of an ocean-based economy, arguing that, if better managed, they could produce six times more food and 40 times more renewable energy.
“We urgently need to build an ocean-based economy where effective protection, sustainable production and equitable prosperity go hand in hand. These actions must be taken collectively because the ocean is a global common good”, said the Kenyan head of state at the opening of the Oceans Conference, jointly organized by Portugal and Kenya and which began in Carcavelos.
In his speech, after being elected, together with his Portuguese counterpart, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, president of the United Nations Conference on the Oceans, Kenyatta defended that, if the ocean is managed in a more sustainable way, it can “produce up to six times more food,” will generate 40 times more renewable energy than today and help lift millions of people around the world out of poverty.”
“In the ocean, therefore, lies great risk as well as great opportunity. The weight of the choice is on each of us,” she said. The Kenyan president also stressed that the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, which provides for the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, is the least funded of the 17 SDGs.
“The ocean is the most underrated resource on our planet. Most of us do not understand how central the ocean is to human existence,” lamented Kenyatta, who pointed out, however, that the oceans cover 70% of the global surface and that three billion people depend on marine biodiversity and coastal.
“The ocean is home to about 80% of all life in the world, holds almost half of the oxygen we breathe, and 90% of the world’s goods are traded through the oceans.” listed the Kenyan head of state. Despite this potential, he lamented, “human action has put ocean systems under immense stress: “We dump more than eight million tons of plastics into the oceans every year, contaminating at least 700 species of marine life.”
“I find it quite surprising that we put such a critical resource at risk,” he said. Recalling that in the last decade humanity has accumulated enough knowledge about the risks and opportunities and about the actions that must be taken, Kenyatta lamented that the actions taken are not “proportionate to the threat facing the ocean.”
“Successful management of our global aquatic resources requires and critically depends on all of us working together. (…) We cannot continue making commitments that we cannot fulfill, ”she warned. Reiterating the importance of involving all stakeholders, the Kenyan leader underscored the role of young people, who “need a front row seat in this discussion”.
He concluded by wishing that in the future this Lisbon conference can be seen “as the place where the arc of history was bent and where it was boldly chosen to produce sustainably and protect the oceans”.
Source: Observadora
