To Decarbonize Shipping, We Must Move Forward Together
As I set foot on Pacific soil for the first time in my role as Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), I do so with deep sense of respect and humility. Pacific Island nations are custodians of more than 30 million square kilometres of vast ocean, with their combined Exclusive Economic Zones equivalent to the total land area of the African continent. The region is uniquely placed as a steward of the ocean's biodiversity and precious ecosystems.
In a world marked by environmental decline and geopolitical tensions, the Pacific continues to stand as a voice of courage and principle. While among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, Pacific Island countries have demonstrated, time after time, that they are not merely victims or passive observers, but essential partners who are actively shaping the global response.
Their commitment was instrumental in securing the ambitious targets set out in IMO's Revised Strategy to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ships, adopted in 2023. This landmark agreement set a clear course global shipping to reach net-zero emissions by or around 2050, with indicative benchmarks for 2030 and 2040. It is the kind of contribution we will need again to ensure we deliver on our shared targets.
This coming October, as part of IMO's GHG Strategy, IMO Member States are expected to formally adopt the newIMO Net-Zero Framework. This set of legally-binding regulations is designed drive down emissions across the international shipping industry, through a mandatory marine fuel standard and global pricing mechanism to ensure compliance. The result: less polluting ships, cleaner air, a healthier ocean and a more climate-resilient future.
Revenue from the pricing mechanism will be directed into a new IMO Net-Zero Fund. This Fund will support the energy transition by rewarding low-emission ships, advancing innovation and infrastructure, funding trainings and capacity development, and mitigating any negative impacts on small island states and least developed countries.
Reaching this point has not been easy. It required years of negotiation, rigorous technical analysis and ultimately, a willingness to compromise. Yet such agreements are just the starting point for implementation, setting the stage for more ambitious actions to come. The adoption of the IMO Net-Zero Framework is the first port of a much longer voyage, with the horizon of what's possible still stretching out beyond us.
So we must keep moving forward and persist even when the waters grow rough. At a time when multilateral cooperation is under strain, every shared step forward is a victory. All Member States are needed at the table as we design the tools, policies and investments to succeed in our bold mission to decarbonize an entire global industry.
IMO stands ready to work side by side with Pacific nations to ensure this framework is not only implemented but continually strengthened. This is why we are opening the IMO's Regional Presence Office in Suva, Fiji, to better understand the needs of the region, develop local and regional capacity and ensure constant engagement.
Establishing this regional office recognizes that maritime transport has always been at the heart of Pacific Island life, from the region's ancient seafaring traditions to the modern-day global trade routes that support food security, energy needs, tourism and the livelihoods of countless families and communities. It also reflects the Pacific's key role in supporting the international maritime regulatory framework, most notably through the Marshall Islands, one of the world's top three flag States by tonnage.
My message to the peoples of the Pacific on my first visit is simply this: IMO is listening, we need you, and we are here to engage. As the maritime sector enters a period of rapid transformation - from digitalization to decarbonization - new challenges will emerge, but also great opportunities. It is crucial that we work together in step to shape a just, sustainable and resilient maritime future for the Pacific and for the world.
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To Decarbonize Shipping, We Must Move Forward Together
By IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez, on the occasion of his first official mission to the Pacific region (3-16 August) since taking up his role As I set foot on Pacific soil for the first time in my role as Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), I do so with deep sense of respect and humility. Pacific Island nations are custodians of more than 30 million square kilometres of vast ocean, with their combined Exclusive Economic Zones equivalent to the total land area of the African continent. The region is uniquely placed as a steward of the ocean's biodiversity and precious ecosystems. In a world marked by environmental decline and geopolitical tensions, the Pacific continues to stand as a voice of courage and principle. While among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, Pacific Island countries have demonstrated, time after time, that they are not merely victims or passive observers, but essential partners who are actively shaping the global response. Their commitment was instrumental in securing the ambitious targets set out in IMO's Revised Strategy to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ships, adopted in 2023. This landmark agreement set a clear course global shipping to reach net-zero emissions by or around 2050, with indicative benchmarks for 2030 and 2040. It is the kind of contribution we will need again to ensure we deliver on our shared targets. This coming October, as part of IMO's GHG Strategy, IMO Member States are expected to formally adopt the newIMO Net-Zero Framework. This set of legally-binding regulations is designed drive down emissions across the international shipping industry, through a mandatory marine fuel standard and global pricing mechanism to ensure compliance. The result: less polluting ships, cleaner air, a healthier ocean and a more climate-resilient future. Revenue from the pricing mechanism will be directed into a new IMO Net-Zero Fund. This Fund will support the energy transition by rewarding low-emission ships, advancing innovation and infrastructure, funding trainings and capacity development, and mitigating any negative impacts on small island states and least developed countries. Reaching this point has not been easy. It required years of negotiation, rigorous technical analysis and ultimately, a willingness to compromise. Yet such agreements are just the starting point for implementation, setting the stage for more ambitious actions to come. The adoption of the IMO Net-Zero Framework is the first port of a much longer voyage, with the horizon of what's possible still stretching out beyond us. So we must keep moving forward and persist even when the waters grow rough. At a time when multilateral cooperation is under strain, every shared step forward is a victory. All Member States are needed at the table as we design the tools, policies and investments to succeed in our bold mission to decarbonize an entire global industry. IMO stands ready to work side by side with Pacific nations to ensure this framework is not only implemented but continually strengthened. This is why we are opening the IMO's Regional Presence Office in Suva, Fiji, to better understand the needs of the region, develop local and regional capacity and ensure constant engagement. Establishing this regional office recognizes that maritime transport has always been at the heart of Pacific Island life, from the region's ancient seafaring traditions to the modern-day global trade routes that support food security, energy needs, tourism and the livelihoods of countless families and communities. It also reflects the Pacific's key role in supporting the international maritime regulatory framework, most notably through the Marshall Islands, one of the world's top three flag States by tonnage. My message to the peoples of the Pacific on my first visit is simply this: IMO is listening, we need you, and we are here to engage. As the maritime sector enters a period of rapid transformation - from digitalization to decarbonization - new challenges will emerge, but also great opportunities. It is crucial that we work together in step to shape a just, sustainable and resilient maritime future for the Pacific and for the world.
Scoop
28-07-2025
- Scoop
The Three Wise Men Of The Desert Are No Dictators
The Sahel Solidarity Campaign Network (SaS-CaN) categorically and vehemently challenges the aggressive rhetoric and spurious allegation that has dominated media headlines and agendas of meetings of the political cultic world and the Deep State. The mischievous allegation presumes that the three wise men of the desert are dictators, who want to hold onto power indefinitely without conducting elections. It is not the policy of SaS-CaN to join argument-based demonization, where the intention is to assassinate the character of another person. But having viewed the motives behind the latest allegation peddled against leaders of the Sahel, we deem it fit to now respond accurately to this mischievous, inciting, hateful and misleading statement, which to all intents and purposes, intend to undermine peace, political stability and development in Africa. One would wonder whether the architects of this mischief making may not have been intoxicated with illicit substances when building their narrative about the Sahel. It is absolutely clear that the enemies of Africa are doing this with the ill-intent to mislead and deceive the public with baseless allegations. SaS-CaN has repeatedly stated that the enemies of Africa and local traitors can go to any length to destroy the revolutionary process in the Sahel region. Vile propaganda, coups and counter coups, division and violence are some of the tools employed by these dark forces to undermine peace, development and prosperity in Africa. The presumption that the three wise men of the desert are dictators, like all other vile allegations, is baseless and misleading. This is not about democracy, but a shameful, predatory, demeaning and repugnant attack on the character of the leaders of the Sahel. It is also an attempt to spread hatred, mischief and negativity. This is unacceptable! The facts are: When it comes to human rights, freedom, the rule of law, socio-economic development and environmental justice in Africa, democracy is a farce if not a bogus system. In the Sahel region, for instance, the current crisis points to the failure of western designed and imposed democracy to address the demands and aspirations of the African people. Succeeding civilian governments did not represent the people, and existed only in the service of foreign interests. In this imposed governance system, western backed corrupt politicians dominates national politics, making democracy a sham and complete mockery. For most parts of post-independence Africa, the so-called democratic governments have proved to be dishonest to their people; they have proved to be authoritarian, corrupt, ethnocentric and subservient to neo-colonial agendas on the continent. During this period, the Sahel region was faced with violent extremist attacks, economic collapse and political instability, coupled by acute food, fuel, and medical shortages and humanitarian crisis due to western backed activities of terrorist outfits on the continent. The countries in the Sahel region, including Mali, Burkina Faso and the Republic of Niger were rated in the bottom pit of United Nations Human Development Index (UNHDI) as the world's poorest and educationally backward nations. It comes to say therefore that those neo-colonial-driven governments have left behind a legacy mired by a crippled economy, abject poverty, underdevelopment, brutal environmental pollution and degradation, and a proxy terrorist war. Prior to the revolution, democracy was never allowed to make roots in the Sahel region. Elections were just a play cook exercise, but orders on governance, control of the economy and natural resources were coming from outside Africa. The Deep State controlled and make decisions on everything; they sit overseas and manipulate African leaders, decide the structure and composition of electoral bodies. They make decision on which party would form the next government, which party should be allowed to participate in elections, who should contest for the presidency, and they bankrolled the entire election process, and even decide who should be registered to vote. So, where is the independence and national sovereignty when the future of a nation is determined by foreign interests? The people have no choice, they are kept divided, hungry, unemployed, homeless, impoverished, isolated, excluded, frustrated, hopeless, and abandoned, while billions of dollars' worth of mineral wealth and natural resources are stashed away annually out of the continent, to develop foreign capitals. The local people are deprived of their own God-given lands, and forced to bear the burden of environmental degradation due to ill-thought-out economic activities of foreign companies operating on the continent. All these are happening while international instruments like the United Nations and African Union keep silence and take no action to help poor Africans. Is this what democracy means-government for the people? To maintain the system or status quo, the Deep State controlled the media and designs their own narratives to present themselves to the poor African people as their saviour. Furthermore, where there are dissenting voices, the Deep State will intervene either by igniting foreign military aggression, or incite political instability or ethnic violence, fund cross border attacks, internal rebellions, organise coups and counter coups, control the activities of civil society groups and the judiciary, or remote control corrupt and failed regional bodies to achieve hidden agendas. The present Sahel under the leadership of the three wise men of the desert, has proved that with the right leaders, the region has chalked giant strides in nation building and transformation that other countries, especially in the West have not been able to achieve in decades. Nowhere in the world has sovereignty restored. These are possible achievements only under the Sahel revolution. In most parts of Africa today, we still find governments that boast their achievements around surrendering national dignity to the whims and caprices of the Deep State. In the Sahel region, the three wise men of the desert believe leadership is about serving your people first before any other selfish interests; it is responsibility, and not privileges. If this is so, as we do believe and hold in high esteem, then why the malice, hatreds and grudges towards the leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso and the Republic of Niger? True democracy in alive in the Sahel, and this manifest through the support and solidarity of the people with their leaders. The Sahel people have nailed their support and solidarity behind their authentic wise men of the desert, and this is a message to the world that they are ever ready to resist any attempts either by foreign powers or local traitors to truncate the ongoing development process in their region. For the unbelieving Thomases in the Holy Bible, we want to bring to their notice that the Sahel people reject orthodox prescription of governance systems, and political agendas founded on greed, oppression, blackmail, exploitation, exclusion, failed economy, epileptic social services, fractured judicial system, human rights violations, constitutional coups, violence, degradation and dehumanisation. They are sending a message to detractors that it is no longer business as usual and gone is the era of manipulation, treachery, divide and rule, thievery, remote control politicking and king-makers' politics in the Sahel region. The people of the Sahel have found peace, freedom, justice and dignity around the three wise men of the desert; and they now call on other Africans to support the revolution in the Sahel region. To say that it is not the Sahel people that betrayed democracy in the ECOWAS block, is to say the obvious. The enemies of democracy in the Sahel and Africa generally are the Wall Street and Deep State who believe they have everything and can do anything, including, to persuade foreign powers to intervene militarily and unleash terror in any country, and overthrow governments that refuse to bow down. In the West for instance, democracy is defined in terms of money, power, weapons and control over the media. Those who say the Sahel people have yet to identify the form of government that can best address their demands and aspirations are themselves confused and have no knowledge of what is really happening in Africa. This is where the three wise men of the desert are being vindicated, by their patriotic zeal, progressive actions and unmatched determination to catapult the Sahel as a free, peaceful, progressive and forward-moving region in the world. This is only possible when politics is independent of foreign manipulation, thanks to the role-model leadership exhibited by the three wise men of the desert. Dissolving old political structures, including legislative house, election bodies and other state institutions is part of the ongoing revolutionary process in the Sahel region. What the three wise men of the desert are doing is to save their region from further destruction and devastation under terrorist forces operating in Africa. The Sahel revolution advocates traditional, independent, effective and efficient governance system that gives no place for expression of social vices and degeneracy, including electoral frauds and malpractices; threats and intimidation that is used by the party in governance to silence alternative political views and exclude the mass of the people in the decision-making process; misuse of public facilities that are supposed to be for the use of the general public, but which are diverted for the comfort of corrupt politicians, their families and cronies; gross violations of human rights and denial of freedoms; tyranny and dictatorship rule; political instability, election violence, incitements, hatreds and division. These vicious acts do not constitute freedom, but are being used to oppress and chain Africans. The issue in the Sahel is no more about importing governance system into the region, or waiting for directives to come from outside. The new Sahel is about addressing the social, economic and political crisis in the region, end the terrorist war and restore peace in a region that once abandoned by so-called moral guarantors or international partners. It is unfortunate that after more than six decades of what supposed to be independence from colonial bandage, the Sahel region had not benefitted from the gains of domestic self-rule. When democracy cannot address the demands and aspirations of the people, many of those citizens will lose faith in the system and democracy suffers backslide. This is what happened in the Sahel and other African countries today. The three wise men of the desert have now taken their responsibility to change this bitter narrative. They vowed to make the sacrifices required for achieving the stated revolutionary goals, for the good of Africa. They have assured all Africans that they came with a difference and that they are not puppets and will not bow to no force on earth, nor betray the conscience of African people. These leaders are now the target for extermination for their refusal to accept orders on how they should manage their own internal matters. In line with the new Sahel's mission, the three wise men of the desert have already taken several steps including dismantling colonial structures, easing taxes that were unduly burdening the public, introducing a high degree of transparency and efficiency in governance and stopping unnecessary government expenditure. National security is also on the agenda and steps have been taken to strengthen the national security institutions in the three Sahel countries, and competent, disciplined and hardworking officers have been given appropriate responsibilities to manage those agencies. A triangular military force has been created to reinforce the security of the entire Sahel region. Above all, appropriate actions have been taken to make the entire Sahel a safe region free of terrorism, extremism, activities of the underworld, theft and robbery, the drug menace, violations of human rights, oppression, disruptions of public order, and the menace of transnational organised crimes. It is very regrettable that some forces outside the African soil still do not grasp the full import of the connections between oppression and fascist dictatorship, and of the threat that the politics of poverty and terrorism posed to national security and the very fabric of the Sahel society. It is ironic that those taunting behind the façade of democracy and human rights are the very same entities that are guilty and are the sources of weapons, tanks, arms, depleted uranium ammunitions, missiles, carpet bombers, war ships and carriers, bombs, machines, mercenaries and extreme terrorists that maim, kill and destroy millions of innocent lives around the world, not only during their colonial past, but even in this 21st century. The Sahel Solidarity Campaign Network maintains that France and its allies owe the people of the Sahel respect as they strive to free their lands and territories from the scourge of narcotic drugs, corruption, and criminality so that with the ongoing development processes and institutional transformation, they may restore their dignity, which was once sold to every passers-by for peanuts. But it still appears that some countries, institutions and individuals, out of insensitivity, backward thinking and sell-outs mentality, refuse to understand the ongoing transformation process in the Sahel. Let it be clear, the people of the Sahel have resolved to never allow again outsiders to take over their mineral wealth and rich natural resources. Period! The reality on the ground speaks for itself. Any country or countries that want to usurp the Sahel's economically significant terrains would be resisted and sovereignty defended. The Sahel revolution is a series of economic and social transformations; it ensures security, national pride, and calls for equal terms in dealing with all nations, without compromising sovereignty. It principal aim is to ensure that the people of the Sahel become architects of their destiny in a region that stands tall and pride itself in global ratings. The Sahel Solidarity Campaign Network denounces the attempts to spread false information through various platforms, depicting the three wise men of the desert as dictators. This act does not only provoke hatred, but also promote hostility with the objective of overthrowing the legitimate governments of Mali, Burkina Faso and the Republic of Niger. God bless the three wise men of the desert! God bless the Sahel!!
Scoop
22-07-2025
- Scoop
‘Perfect Storm' Of Global Crises Drove Years Of Food Price Surges: FAO
22 July 2025 The report, to be released later this month, reveals how between 2020 and 2024, the world experienced a dramatic increase in food prices driven by a combination of COVID-19 inflation, the war in Ukraine restricting movements on food and commodities, and increasing climate shocks. 'The episodes described in this publication bring up what we call a perfect storm,' said Mr. Torero Cullen. Máximo Torero Cullen speaks to journalists at the UN HQs via video link. First, he explained that during the COVID-19 pandemic, governments launched fiscal stimulus and relief packages, which increased demand and, thus, global inflation. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine compounded this crisis. Before the war began in 2022, Ukraine was a key exporter of wheat, sunflower oil and fertilisers. The war not only restricted these exports but disrupted trade routes and pushed up fuel and input costs, which amplified inflation across the world. Additionally, increasingly frequent and intense climate shocks in major producing regions – such as droughts, floods and heat waves – further aggravated food inflation. Worldwide impacts Only in 2024 did prices return to pre-COVID levels, meaning that households struggled for multiple years to afford food, with major consequences. As real wages fell while food prices increased, household purchasing power was eroded. Households responded by buying cheaper and less nutritious food, reducing meal frequency, and often prioritising meals for certain family members and reducing intake for women and children. Mr. Torero Cullen also explained that an increase in food prices directly correlates to an increase in moderate and severe food insecurity. The impacts of this were particularly harsh in Africa and Western Asia, where food imports, dependence and currency depreciation made food even more expensive. Moreover, as food prices increased, nutrition outcomes among children under five worsened. The SOFI report illustrated that a 10 per cent food price increase led to a 2.7 to 6.1 per cent increase in moderate to severe wasting, which has long-lasting effects on child development and public health systems. Notably, these grave impacts were uneven, mostly affecting low-income and African countries – many of which are still seeing worsening figures. During the peak of the crisis in January 2023, some low-income countries experienced food price inflation of up to 30 per cent, compared to 13.6 per cent globally. Policy recommendations Mr. Torero Cullen finished his briefing by outlining the policy prescriptions detailed in the SOFI report. He first underscored targeted fiscal support. 'Social protection measures are the most effective response to food price spikes,' he explained. 'This will protect vulnerable populations without creating long-term fiscal risk or market distortions.' He also highlighted avoiding trade disruptions, coordinating monetary and fiscal policies, improving market transparency, and institutional preparedness as essential components for avoiding future crises. 'This SOFI underscores that inflation can undermine progress. It underlines our vulnerabilities, and it also brings the importance of strengthening resilience, inclusiveness and transparency to be able to avoid and minimize the risk of these problems,' he concluded.
