“It has to be the right mission at the right time.” This is how the importance of the meeting was summed up by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who was speaking at the United Nations Conference on the Oceans, the largest event ever dedicated to the subject. This Monday, in Carcavelos, more than 7,000 people were expected, including representatives from 140 countries. The Lisbon meeting is the second edition of the conference, after the first one took place in New York five years ago.

Right at the beginning of his speech, the President of the Republic was affirmative: it is “the right conference, at the right time, with the right focus, and the right UN Secretary General”. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa began by strongly praising António Guterres, former Portuguese Prime Minister: it is “an honor and a pleasure” to have the UN Secretary General at this meeting, “a man of principles and convictions”, promoter of “peace and social justice”.

“Portugal is what it is thanks to the oceans”

Portugal is what it is thanks to the oceans, said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, highlighting their geopolitical importance. “Portugal is a platform between oceans, continents, cultures and civilizations”, added the President of the Republic, emphasizing that it was in the past, it is in the present and it will be in the future.

Returning to his initial idea, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa specified that the meeting takes place at the “proper moment, because The oceans are essential for geopolitical power, health, economic resources, mobility, migrations, scientific and technological development”. And he recalled that the conference had to be postponed due to various factors, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, ending up coinciding with the G7 Summit and the NATO Summit, which starts this Tuesday.

The President of the Portuguese Republic also stressed that the time is right, because we must make up for lost time and “give hope a chance”, before it is too late. “The politicians leave, the oceans stay,” he concluded. Neither the pandemic, nor the war, nor the crisis should further postpone the necessary action to save the oceans, he defended. “The urgency of the pandemic or war cannot be an excuse to forget about the enduring structural challenges and their effects on our daily lives.”

Returning to the role of water on the planet, Marcelo recalled that “oceans have existed for millions and millions of years”, long before man existed, and they will continue to exist for “millions and millions of years”, as long as Humanity “stops killing them”.

Before the President of the Republic spoke, António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, officially declared the Oceans Conference open. On this occasion, the organization is in charge of Portugal and Kenya. The motto is “Save the oceans, protect the future”.

This Monday morning, in an interview with the Lusa agency about the meeting, the environment minister warned that the Portuguese will have to get used to living with less water. The government, said Duarte Cordeiro, will apply “whatever restrictions are necessary” if the water begins to run out.

“It is not worth it, who promotes a certain type of investment or infrastructure, without taking into account that water is a scarce resource. And we do not have any kind of limitation to apply restrictions when necessary. That is what we have been doing,” said the minister, warning that whoever invests without taking into account the scarcity of water may have consequences. The most important thing, he assured him, is to have water for human consumption.

Also in an interview with Lusa, the leader of the Russian delegation – a presence that aroused much controversy – warned that the suspension of cooperation in the area of ​​climate or environmental protection could have a “catastrophic effect” for the planet and its recovery. . “It takes decades.”

“Suspending cooperation in the area of ​​climate or environmental protection will only impede progress in these areas. This could have a catastrophic effect on our planet and recovery could take decades,” said Ruslan Edelgeriyev.