Report: 18 new green shipping corridor initiatives emerged worldwide in last year alone
About 18 new green shipping corridor initiatives emerged worldwide in the last year alone – ...
UNEP chief: SDG 14 on Life Below Water least funded of all SDGs
Marine nature-based solutions receive only 9% of investments in this domain and SDG 14, Life Below Water, is the least funded of all SDGs, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Inger Andersen said during the High-level Opening Plenary on Ocean Day.
“So, stimulating public and private finance to triple investments in nature-based solutions by 2030 will be a crucial enabling factor for delivery,” she highlighted.
Climate change is raising temperatures and acidifying water. Countless microplastic particles are swirling alongside the plankton. Over-exploitation is devastating species. And there are emerging threats. The prospect of deep-sea mining is raising concerns around possible damage to ocean-floor ecosystems crucial to ocean and carbon cycling, and to the species themselves, she added.
These pressures are why the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and its ocean-related targets are so important. Yes, the 30×30 target on conservation and restoration acidification is important. But let’s not forget the other targets, please, because we must meet the totality of the GBF. The drivers of biodiversity loss include over-exploitation, fragmentation and ecosystem change. These are critical.
“We are seeing progress. The Global Funds for Coral Reefs is a blended private-public partnership driving reef-positive investments. We celebrate that. The UNEP Finance Initiative convenes global institutions across banking, investment, insurance, science and policymaking in support of the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles. We celebrate that,” she said.
“But we must also see enhanced integrated ocean governance strategies. The ocean is a connector of people and across many Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). For nearly fifty years, UNEP has been proud to host the Regional Seas Conventions, the first coming in 1977, five years after UNEP was established. These are 17 of these conventions, from the Cartagena Convention to the Barcelona Convention and on and on. These conventions deal with biodiversity within national jurisdiction. They hold fifty years of learning on biodiversity conversation,” she added.
“Now we have the BBNJ Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, which we celebrate. Biodiversity doesn’t know whether it is within or without a jurisdiction. So, we must look for synergies between the Regional Seas Conventions and the BBNJ. And we must increase political momentum to ratify the BBNJ Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, starting at this COP. Because every moment lost is indeed moments lost for the oceans,” she said.
“And here, I want to stress that, at the end of November, we have the last round of negotiations on the plastic pollution treaty. I ask you all to support us in getting this over the line. We must find real solutions to this scourge. I also ask you to understand that we will have to rely on plastic in medicine, transport and so on. But we must take a lifecycle approach, exit unnecessary, short-lived plastics and innovate,” she said.
“All these deals – on plastics, on climate, on pollution and more – all underpin the GBF. We need to ensure everything joins up,” she concluded.
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