UN urges ratification of treaty to protect the planet's fragile oceans
NICE: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday urged world leaders to ratify a treaty that would allow nations to establish protected marine areas in international waters, warning that human activity was destroying ocean ecosystems. Guterres, speaking at the opening of the third UN Ocean Conference in Nice, cautioned that illegal fishing, plastic pollution and rising sea temperatures threatened delicate ecosystems and the people who depend on them. "The ocean is the ultimate shared resource. But we are failing it," Guterres said, citing collapsing fish stocks, rising sea levels and ocean acidification.
Oceans also provide a vital buffer against climate change, by absorbing around 30 per cent of planet-heating CO2 emissions. But as the oceans heat up, hotter waters are destroying marine ecosystems and threatening the oceans' ability to absorb CO2. "These are symptoms of a system in crisis — and they are feeding off each other. Unravelling food chains. Destroying livelihoods. Deepening insecurity."
The High Seas Treaty, adopted in 2023, would permit countries to establish marine parks in international waters, which cover nearly two-thirds of the ocean and are largely unregulated. Hitherto, only an estimated 1per cent of international waters, known as the "high seas", have been protected.
The drive for nations to turn years of promises into meaningful protection for the oceans comes as President Donald Trump pulls the United States and its money out of climate projects and as some European governments weaken green policy commitments as they seek to support anaemic economies and fend off nationalists. The United States has not yet ratified the treaty and will not do so during the conference, Rebecca Hubbard, director of The High Seas Alliance, said. "If they don't ratify, they are not bound by it," she said. "The implementation will take years but it is critical we start now and we won't let the US absence stop that from happening."
French President Emmanuel Macron, the conference's co-host, told delegates that 50 countries had now ratified the treaty and that another 15 had promised to do so. The treaty will only come into force once 60 countries ratify it. Macron's foreign minister said he expected that would happen before the end of the year. The United States has not sent a high-level delegation to the conference. "It's not a surprise, we know the American administration's position on these issues," Macron told reporters late on Sunday. Britain's Prince William said protecting the planet's oceans was a challenge "like none we have faced before".
Ocean experts have also seized on the conference as an opportunity to rally investment for the ocean economy, which has long struggled to attract sizeable funding commitments. At a two-day gathering of bankers and investors in Monaco over the weekend, philanthropists, private investors and public banks committed 8.7 billion euros over five years to support a regenerative and sustainable blue economy. — Reuters
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15 minutes ago
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The EU can play it cool with Trump's trade threats
Other governments have so far taken three main approaches to dealing with Donald Trump's trade threats. China hit back hard at the US president's tariffs and got him to back down partly. Canada also retaliated and avoided some of the pain Trump inflicted on other countries. Meanwhile, Britain cut a quick deal that favoured the United States. None of these is a model for the European Union. The 27-member group is not China. Though its bilateral goods trade with the United States last year was worth 70% more than between the US and the People's Republic, the EU is not an autocracy that can outpunch Trump. If it antagonises the US president, he might up the stakes by pulling the rug from under Ukraine and undermining the EU's defences. American hard power gives it what geopolitical strategists call 'escalation dominance'. The EU is not Canada either. Ottawa was able to hang tough because its people were infuriated that Trump was trying to blackmail Canada into becoming part of the United States. While anti-Trump sentiment is high in the EU, politicians who are sympathetic to him, such as Poland's new president, can still get elected. On the other hand, the EU is not the United Kingdom. Both are at risk from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But the EU trades seven times more goods with the United States than Britain does - so Washington has more to lose if economic relations break down. There is another way for the EU to handle Trump's threats: play it cool. That is more or less what the bloc is doing. It involves neither escalating the conflict nor accepting a bad deal. It means being open to a good agreement if the US lowers its demands, but willing to play the long game if it does not. One reason to buy time is to help Kyiv. The longer the EU has to prepare its own support package for Ukraine, which should include getting it a lot of cash, the less the damage if Trump ultimately cuts off all US aid to the country. The president's own vulnerabilities may also increase over time. Just look at the spectacular end of his alliance with Tesla boss Elon Musk. The fragile US trade truce with China may break down causing more financial turmoil, making Trump less keen to pick a fight with the EU. If the Supreme Court stops him using emergency powers to impose tariffs, his negotiating position will be weaker. And tariffs could hurt the US more than its supposed victims, by pushing up inflation and crimping growth. A QUICK DEAL? Trump has zig-zagged in his trade threats and actions against the EU. The current state of play is that there are 50% tariffs on US imports of steel and aluminium from the bloc, a 25% tariff on cars and 10% so-called reciprocal tariffs on most other goods. And so they're trying to be the first and the best to get there, which is why everybody's throwing so much money at it without any clear sense of, you know, The US president has threatened to jack up these reciprocal tariffs to 50% if there is no deal by July 9. He is also looking at more 'sectoral tariffs', including on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. While the EU has complained to the World Trade Organization (WTO), it has delayed its own retaliation. Its negotiators accept that they are unlikely to overturn the reciprocal tariffs, the Financial Times has reported. The bloc still aims to avoid the sectoral ones. Those on cars and any on pharmaceuticals would hurt it the most. It has dangled the possibility of buying more US equipment and natural gas to get a deal. An agreement on those lines could be good for the EU. It needs to beef up its defences and eliminate its purchases of Russian gas. 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Yet another is to threaten to ban exports of critical goods, such as the lithographic equipment necessary to make semiconductors. Extreme events may require extreme responses. But for now, the EU should keep its cool. It should not kid itself that it is stronger or more united than it is. It should remember that Trump may get weaker with time. And it should never forget Ukraine. — Reuters Hugo Dixon The writer is Commentator-at-Large for Reuters. He was the founding chair and editor-in-chief of Breakingviews.
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3 hours ago
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Türkiye slams Israel for intercepting Gaza-bound aid boat
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Observer
3 hours ago
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UN urges ratification of treaty to protect the planet's fragile oceans
NICE: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday urged world leaders to ratify a treaty that would allow nations to establish protected marine areas in international waters, warning that human activity was destroying ocean ecosystems. Guterres, speaking at the opening of the third UN Ocean Conference in Nice, cautioned that illegal fishing, plastic pollution and rising sea temperatures threatened delicate ecosystems and the people who depend on them. "The ocean is the ultimate shared resource. But we are failing it," Guterres said, citing collapsing fish stocks, rising sea levels and ocean acidification. Oceans also provide a vital buffer against climate change, by absorbing around 30 per cent of planet-heating CO2 emissions. But as the oceans heat up, hotter waters are destroying marine ecosystems and threatening the oceans' ability to absorb CO2. "These are symptoms of a system in crisis — and they are feeding off each other. Unravelling food chains. Destroying livelihoods. Deepening insecurity." The High Seas Treaty, adopted in 2023, would permit countries to establish marine parks in international waters, which cover nearly two-thirds of the ocean and are largely unregulated. Hitherto, only an estimated 1per cent of international waters, known as the "high seas", have been protected. The drive for nations to turn years of promises into meaningful protection for the oceans comes as President Donald Trump pulls the United States and its money out of climate projects and as some European governments weaken green policy commitments as they seek to support anaemic economies and fend off nationalists. The United States has not yet ratified the treaty and will not do so during the conference, Rebecca Hubbard, director of The High Seas Alliance, said. "If they don't ratify, they are not bound by it," she said. "The implementation will take years but it is critical we start now and we won't let the US absence stop that from happening." French President Emmanuel Macron, the conference's co-host, told delegates that 50 countries had now ratified the treaty and that another 15 had promised to do so. The treaty will only come into force once 60 countries ratify it. Macron's foreign minister said he expected that would happen before the end of the year. The United States has not sent a high-level delegation to the conference. "It's not a surprise, we know the American administration's position on these issues," Macron told reporters late on Sunday. Britain's Prince William said protecting the planet's oceans was a challenge "like none we have faced before". Ocean experts have also seized on the conference as an opportunity to rally investment for the ocean economy, which has long struggled to attract sizeable funding commitments. At a two-day gathering of bankers and investors in Monaco over the weekend, philanthropists, private investors and public banks committed 8.7 billion euros over five years to support a regenerative and sustainable blue economy. — Reuters
