8 June 2015
“Healthy oceans, healthy planet”
Oceans are essential for supporting life
on Earth and for human well-being. The oceans cover more than 70 per cent of
our planet, and over 40 per cent of the world’s population (almost 3 billion
people) lives within 100 kilometres of the coast. And while oceans remain one
of the least explored areas of our planet, their importance cannot be
underestimated.
More than four billion people rely on
fish for a substantial share of their protein intake. The oceans support
essential biogeochemical processes, supplying, for example, half of the oxygen
we breathe, and contain some 250,000 known species, with many more waiting to
be discovered. They also have the potential to provide a vast number of
medicines and biochemicals. Clearly, human health and the health of the oceans
are closely intertwined, a reality aptly represented in this year’s World
Oceans Day theme: “Healthy oceans, healthy planet.”
However, the world’s oceans and seas are
changing. Human activities are taking a terrible toll. Marine ecosystems are
being damaged by over-exploitation, illegal, unreported and unregulated
fishing, destructive fishing practices and marine pollution. Increased sea
temperatures and sea-level rise, caused by climate change, as well as ocean
acidification, pose a further threat to marine life, coastal and island communities,
and national economies. And yet we all, wherever we live, rely on these oceans
and seas for our very livelihoods.
This may sound grim. Yet, people and
communities around the world are developing measures and taking responsibility
to conserve and restore marine and coastal biodiversity, not only for this
generation to use and enjoy, but for many more generations to come. At its
tenth meeting, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological
Diversity adopted the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2010-2020, with its 20 Aichi
Biodiversity Targets, which has become a widely agreed framework for action on
biodiversity, supported by the other biodiversity-related conventions and the
United Nations General Assembly.
Through the Strategic Plan for
Biodiversity, Parties have committed to achieving a new vision for the world’s
biodiversity: “by 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely
used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and
delivering benefits essential for all people.”
To achieve this vision, Parties to the
Convention, through the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, have made tangible
commitments to achieve sustainable fisheries, protect at least 10 per cent of
coastal and marine areas by 2020, address invasive alien species and reduce the
pressures on coral reefs, among other ambitious commitments. “Biodiversity for
Sustainable Development” was the motto of the twelfth meeting of the Conference
of the Parties to the Convention, held last year in Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea. There, countries considered
ecologically or biologically significant marine areas of the world’s oceans and
seas, addressed the impacts of underwater noise and ocean acidification on
marine and coastal biodiversity, developed priority actions to achieve Aichi
Biodiversity Target 10 (by 2015, the multiple anthropogenic pressures on coral
reefs, and other vulnerable ecosystems impacted by climate change or ocean
acidification are minimized, so as to maintain their integrity and
functioning.) and provided guidance on capacity-building activities within the
framework of the Sustainable Ocean Initiative.
Likewise, world leaders have recognized
the urgency of confronting the challenge to achieve sustainable development and
the necessity to take action to improve the conservation and sustainable use of
marine biodiversity, as reflected in the on-going discussion on the post-2015
development agenda and the sustainable development goals. Proposed Goal 14 aims
to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable
development.
Countries thus reaffirmed that our
future lies with the oceans and recognized that strong evidence has been compiled
to emphasize the need for urgent action to protect its biodiversity. As such,
it becomes apparent that achieving the Strategic Plan requires us to abandon business
as-usual approaches and to mainstream biodiversity into our development. The
time is now ripe for us to change the way we perceive the value of oceans and the marine life therein as
well as how we consume the goods and services provided by oceans: the very
basis of our sustainability in this planet.
I invite you to use the opportunity of
this year’s World Oceans Day to learn more about the ways and means to protect
this vital part of our planet. As Jacques Cousteau, the great oceanographer, so
aptly put it: “People can be happy only when they marvel at nature, when they
marvel at creation and at their surroundings. Whatever they love, they wish to
protect.”
We need to act now to ensure the
conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity and the fair and equitable
sharing of its benefits. It is time for us to join together and use our
collective wisdom, experiences and expertise to achieve these objectives and
secure our common future on this blue planet.
May this year be a new turning point to
together celebrate the beauty, the wealth and the promise of our oceans.
