Remarks by H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly
27 June 2022
Excellencies,?
I would like to start by expressing my sincere gratitude to the Portuguese, Dominican Republic, and Mozambique governments for having kindly extended an invitation for me to speak with you all today.
Ladies and Gentlemen,?
My Presidency is premised on maintaining hope while simultaneously responding to our planet’s increasingly urgent needs.
It is therefore crucial that we comprehensively tend to the worrying health of the ocean and that, in this process, we implement SDG14.
However, it is with deep concern that I must state that we are far behind achieving our anticipated target for this Goal.?
The ocean covers 70% of the Earth’s surface and is home to 80% of all life in the world. It is our planet’s largest biosphere, providing livelihoods to over 3 billion people.
Marine Protected Areas are a positive initiative to alleviate the pressures currently endured by marine environments, including those resulting from climate change.
I unfortunately understand that, to date, only 8% of coastal and marine areas are protected, when our intention was to have achieved 10% of marine coverage globally by 2020.?
Scientific evidence indicates that protecting 30% of the global ocean is key to reversing adverse ecological impacts, preserving fish populations and marine ecosystems, increasing resilience to climate change, and sustaining the long-term health of our oceans.
This requires ambitious policy shifts regarding ocean action such as:
– implementing critical nature-based solutions that nurture rather than exploit;
– drafting strong international treaties to guarantee better ocean governance;
– and promoting an accountable and responsible blue economy.?
My dear friends,
The success of Marine Protected Areas in delivering conservation benefits, however depends on effective management.?
And that calls for the effective monitoring, collecting and analyzing of data. This is crucial to understanding changes in ocean conditions and biodiversity, and further improving the management of marine protected areas.?
Stakeholders can then use the information gathered by publishing fishing activity records, thereby improving transparency, accountability and overall management and governance.?
Going forward, we also need to harness the advantages of machine learning and near-real-time, open-source, dynamic and interactive data to evaluate ocean conditions, marine biology, and human activity, such as fishing.
My dear friends,
We can be proud of our accomplishments thus far and see them as beacons of hope, but we must also be mindful that there remains nonetheless a long way to go.
Today is an opportune time to learn about each other’s achievements in our pursuit to heal our oceans and achieve our 14th SDG.?
I hope that we can build on today’s discussion to move forward in our engagements.?
I thank you.?