The special envoy of the UN secretary general for the oceans, Peter Thomson, defended this Thursday the creation of an international bank to finance marine protected areas and stressed that the future depends on the sustainability of the blue economy.
“Some of the world’s largest marine protected areas have been established by some of the world’s poorest countries, so global cooperation is needed to finance and manage these areas,” he said.
Peter Thomson was speaking in the framework of the conference “Ilhas Selvagens — A catalyst for the national sustainable blue economy” -, which takes place in Funchal, in which advocated the creation of a world bank for ocean sustainability.
“Today we are going to discuss the costs and benefits of marine protected areas,” he said, adding that “new ideas” are being developed to secure their financing, since “the sustainable blue economy is fundamental to the future of the human species.” . as a source of energy and in terms of food security.
The conference is part of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Ilhas Selvagens nature reserve, a sub-archipelago of Madeira located about 300 kilometers south of Funchal.
In 2021, the Madeira government (PSD/CDS-PP) decreed the expansion of the reserve, covering 2,677 square kilometers in an area of 12 nautical miles around the Savage Islands, where all existing species are fully protected from extractive activitiessuch as fishing or the exploitation of inert materials.
The Savage Islands thus became the largest Marine Protected Area in the North Atlantic.
“The Savages are an example to the world,” said Peter Thomson, who noted that he will visit the sub-archipelago on Friday.
“I am going to Salvajes because I want to meet them and I want the world to see how important the Islas Salvajes Marine Protected Area is,” he stressed.
The UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Oceans recalled, on the other hand, that international agreements aim at need to cover 10% of the oceans with marine protected area status.
“This has not yet been achieved, but one of the great initiatives was taken here, in Madeira, by the Regional Government, last year, by declaring the Savages Marine Protected Area, the largest in the North Atlantic”, he said, reinforcing: “This was a very significant step globally.”
The opening session of the conference “Ilhas Selvagens – A catalyst for the national Sustainable Blue Economy” was attended by the Secretary of State for the Sea, José Maria Costa, who also highlighted the “good example” of Madeira.
Madeira is a good example of what has been done from the point of view of conservation, but also of what can be glimpsed in terms of economic development, sustainable tourism, monitoring, use of new equipment”, he said.
And he added: “We will not be able to overcome the problem of climate change if we do not take good care of the oceans and here, in Madeira, this is being done very well.”
Source: Observadora
