World leaders must do more to protect the sea, and a major UN conference ending on Friday is a new treaty to protect the high seas. Aimed.
"To deal with the dire conditions of the sea requires greater ambition at all levels," the United Nations Maritime Conference in Lisbon said in its final declaration.
The meeting in the Portuguese capital is not a forum for negotiations, attended by government officials, experts and supporters from 140 countries. However, it sets the agenda for August's final international negotiations on the high seas, a treaty to protect the high seas outside the jurisdiction of the country.
"Loss of biodiversity, poor marine health, progress of climate crisis ... all have one reason in common: human behavior, dependence on oil and gas, And we need to deal with all of them. "
The ocean produces half of the oxygen we breathe, regulates the weather, and provides the only largest source of protein in humankind.
It also plays an important role in protecting life on earth because it absorbs a quarter of the CO2 pollution caused by global warming and 90% of excess heat.
However, they are at stake due to human activity.
Seawater becomes acidic, threatening the aquatic food chain and the ocean's ability to absorb carbon. Global warming has created massive ocean heat waves that have killed coral reefs and expanded dead zones that have lost oxygen.
Humans have endangered some marine life and have used the world's waters as garbage dumps.
Agreement patchwork
Today, the agreement patchwork and regulators control shipping, from the seabed. Fishing and extraction of minerals.
Mr. Thomson said in August he was "very confident" that governments could agree on a "strong but operational" Convention on the High Seas.
Tiago Pitta e Cunha, Head of the Portuguese Foundation Oceano Azul (Blue Ocean), said:
Greenpeace's Laura Meller called for further action.
"We know that if words can save the sea, the sea is not on the verge of collapse," she told AFP. "So, in August, when the government meets at the United Nations, they need to complete a truly powerful global maritime treaty."
Efforts to protect the ocean are two later this year. Continued at two major summits. The United Nations Climate Change Conference in November and the United Nations Biodiversity Negotiations in December.
Overfishing, Mining, Plastics
At the heart of the draft UN Convention on Biological Diversity will be 30% of the Earth's land and sea as protected areas by 2030. I have a plan to specify.
Currently, less than 8% of the ocean is protected.
Many new protected marine areas may be declared off limits to fishing, mining, drilling, or other mining activities that scientists say destroy fragile submarine ecosystems. ..
What makes things worse is a torrent of endless pollution, containing every minute of plastic, the equivalent of a garbage truck, the United Nations says.
"The sea is not a dump," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday. "It's not a source of endless looting. It's a fragile system on which we all depend."
