The United Nations Special Envoy for the Oceans said Monday that he hopes the Lisbon Oceans Conference will result in “positive solutions” to combat sea degradation and financial commitments to implement them.
“Pragmatically, I feel like we’re going to come out of here with positive solutions., programs of work to be done and money to be made. I think we will have good news at the end of the week. Today I already had a meeting with the World Bank, they are all here and want to contribute”, declared the Fijian Peter Thomson at a press conference.
The former president of the UN General Assembly, appointed by the Secretary General, António Guterres, to represent the United Nations in the discussion on the impacts of climate change and human action on the oceans, stressed that the objective of sustainable development in relation to marine life (SDG14) “remains the least funded” and that in 2015, when the sustainable development goals were defined, “half of the largest countries in the world did not understand the purpose of having such a goal ( on the protection of marine life).
“I am neither optimistic nor pessimistic, I am pragmatic and what I think we have resolved the financing issue and we can fulfill it”he said, adding that the same “wave of positivity” will carry over to the upcoming United Nations climate summit, due to be held later in the year in Egypt.
Peter Thomson assured that he will fight so that “funds for adaptation [aos efeitos das alterações climáticas] go support sustainable blue economies.”
The diplomat pointed to positive examples such as the decision of the World Trade Organization to “withdraw 22,000 million dollars of public money that each year subsidizes industrial fishing fleets that hunt scarce fish stocks.”
He also pointed to the ongoing negotiations to reach a binding international treaty to curb the production and pollution of plastics, stressing that it is necessary to “go much further”.
“We have to take the millions that we give to the oil industry in subsidies and give it to companies that are producing alternatives to plastic. They exist, we have to have courage and dedication to our grandchildren to finance and make this revolution a reality”, he defended.
The second United Nations Conference on the Oceans, organized by Portugal together with Kenya, runs until Friday in Lisbon.
Source: Observadora
