Latest news with #EuropeanOceanPact
RTÉ News
14 hours ago
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Taoiseach to attend UN Ocean Conference in Nice
Taoiseach Micheál Martin will today travel to Nice to attend a United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3), which is taking place in the French city until Friday. Ten years on from the Paris Agreement, a landmark deal at COP21 that set targets to limit global warming, the world's oceans will take centre stage at UNOC3, which is being co-hosted by France and Costa Rica. This week's event follows previous UN ocean conferences in New York in 2017 and Lisbon in 2022. World leaders, UN bodies, climate activists, scientists, businesses and communities that rely on maritime environments to make their living are all taking part in what is being viewed as a crucial conference on the future of the world's oceans. Many marine scientists are warning that the world's oceans are nearing a point of no return. Decades of plastic pollution, over-fishing, seabed mining, coral bleaching and climate change have threatened the existence of many marine species and the livelihoods of coastal communities, particularly in the Global South. Speaking ahead of the conference, Mr Martin said: "As an island nation, Ireland is keenly aware of the importance of the marine environment, and the other roles our waters play, including as a vital trade route. "I look forward to joining with fellow world leaders over the coming days to discuss and collaborate on ways to secure the future of our oceans and seas." This evening, the Taoiseach will attend the inauguration of the conference's 'Green Zone', hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron. More than 60 other world leaders will be in attendance. Tomorrow, the Taoiseach will take part in an event to launch the European Ocean Pact, jointly hosted by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Mr Macron. The pact, adopted by the Commission last week, ties together a number of EU ocean policies under one framework and aims to help member states protect and restore maritime habitants. It also proposes a new European law on the oceans by 2027 to include legislation on combatting illegal fishing. Later tomorrow, Mr Martin will deliver a statement on behalf of Ireland at the conference's main plenary session. The world's oceans produce half of all the globe's oxygen and that more than three billion people rely on marine biodiversity to survive. According to the UN, up to 12 million metric tonnes of plastics enter the ocean each year. That is the equivalent of a bin truck every minute. Over 60% of marine ecosystems are already degraded and fishing stocks have plummeted since the 1970s. Global fish stocks that are classified within safe biological limits have plunged from 90% in the 1970s to just over 62% in 2021. Rising sea temperatures also pose a danger for maritime habitats. In April, global sea temperatures reached their second-highest levels ever. While some of the worst cases of coral bleaching are currently affecting marine habitats in the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and parts of the Pacific. Li Junhua, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, who will act as Secretary-General of the conference has said that the world's oceans are facing "an unprecedent crisis". To date, there have been a number of non-binding declarations made by governments to protect ocean life but there is no single legal agreement to tie them all together. A treaty on limiting marine plastic pollution is still in progress while a World Trade Organization agreement to preserve fish stocks has not yet been fully implemented. In 2023, 21 countries signed up to the so-called High Seas Treaty to protect marine life in international waters, with France and Spain the only two European signatories. Two years later, the treaty has been ratified by fewer than 30 countries, short of the 60 countries needed to implement it at UN level. Representatives of national delegations who have already backed the treaty hope to get enough new signatories in Nice for it to enter into force. Over the next five days in Nice, hundreds of new pledges are expected from governments. Conference organisers hope that by Friday, countries will adopt the Nice Ocean Action Plan - a political declaration setting out the main pledges to accelerate action on the conservation and sustainable use of oceans. While in Nice, Mr Martin will also take part in a number of bilateral meetings, including with the King of Jordan, Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley and former US Secretary of State John Kerry who also held a key climate portfolio during the Biden administration.
Euronews
21 hours ago
- Business
- Euronews
French president Emmanuel Macron welcomed in Monaco for historic visit
French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, arrived in Monaco on Saturday, where they were welcomed for a historic state visit to the principality on the French Riviera. Macron and his wife received traditional military honours from Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco in a ceremony at the Prince's Palace. Monaco, in a post on Facebook, hailed its relationship with France, saying the principality and Paris have a strong bond of friendship with an open border. The palace said Monaco and France cooperate in many fields, from health to safety to culture and education, stressing that both states were focused on a more sustainable future. According to the Prince's Palace, more than 40,000 French citizens cross the border each day to work in Monaco, and the trip by Macron presented an opportunity to discuss bilateral issues and those of mutual interest. Macron's two-day visit is the first state visit to Monaco by a French president since that of François Mitterrand in 1984. It also comes ahead of the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice on Tuesday, which Macron is billed to attend alongside other global leaders, with the EU expected to formally launch the "European Ocean Pact." The pact seeks to address climate and pollution threats to biodiversity, as well as challenges for coastal livelihoods. Meanwhile, the European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis, on Saturday described the pact as a shared roadmap for ocean health and marine sustainability. Kadis said this during a key speech at the Blue Economy and Finance Forum in Monaco ahead of the UN Ocean Conference. "In the context of this year's UN Ocean Conference, we have pledged approximately €1 billion in voluntary commitments for ocean and coastal biodiversity and climate," Kadis told the forum. This support extends beyond the EU, also targeting dedicated initiatives across Africa, the Pacific, and Latin America," the EU commissioner said during his address. However promising, some NGO groups have taken a jab at the pact, saying it falls short of needs and is a missed opportunity. In a joint statement, a group of six leading environmental NGOs said the pact falls short of delivering the urgent action and binding targets that are needed to protect oceans. Co-hosted by France and Costa Rica, the 3rd UN Ocean Conference runs from 9 to 13 June. US President Donald Trump on Saturday made clear he was not interested in repairing the relationship with his former ally and campaign benefactor Elon Musk, warning Musk could face 'serious consequences' if he tries to back the opposition. In a phone interview with NBC's Kristen Welker, Trump said that he has no intention of reconciling with Musk. And, when asked specifically if he thought his relationship with the mega-billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX was over, Trump responded, 'I would assume so, yeah.' 'I'm too busy doing other things,' Trump continued. 'You know, I won an election in a landslide. I gave him a lot of breaks long before this happened. I gave him breaks in my first administration and saved his life in my first administration. I have no intention of speaking to him.' The US president also issued a warning amid chatter that Musk could back Democratic lawmakers and candidates in the 2026 midterm elections. 'If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that,' Trump told NBC, though he declined to share what those consequences would be. Musk's businesses have many lucrative federal contracts. The latest comes after a spectacular fallout in the relationship between the US president and the world's richest man over Trump's budget bill that Musk began to criticise on his social media platform X earlier in the week. Musk warned that the bill would increase the federal deficit and called it a 'disgusting abomination.' According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the bill would slash spending and taxes but also leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance and spike deficits by $2.4 trillion over the decade. On Thursday, Trump criticised Musk's strong reaction to his 'big beautiful bill' pending before Congress, and before long, he and Musk began trading bitter personal attacks on social media, sending the White House and GOP congressional leaders scrambling to assess the fallout. As the back-and-forth intensified, Musk suggested Trump should be impeached and claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the president's association with infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, a claim the Tesla boss appeared to have walked back from by deleting his tweet about Epstein on Saturday. Speaking in an interview with ' manosphere' comedian Theo Von, US Vice President JD Vance tried to downplay the feud. He said Musk was making a 'huge mistake' going after Trump, calling him an 'emotional guy' getting frustrated. 'I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear,' Vance said. Vance called Musk an 'incredible entrepreneur said that Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which sought to cut government spending and laid off or pushed out thousands of workers, was 'really good.' The US Vice President said the bill's central goal was not to cut spending but to extend the 2017 tax cuts approved in Trump's first term. 'It's a good bill,' Vance said. 'It's not a perfect bill.'
Free Malaysia Today
2 days ago
- General
- Free Malaysia Today
Ailing Baltic Sea in need of urgent attention
Of the world's coastal seas, the Baltic Sea is warming the fastest. (EPA Images pic) HELSINKI : Decades of pollution and climate change have caused fish to disappear from the Baltic Sea at an alarming rate, with the EU on Thursday vowing to make the sea an 'urgent priority'. Unveiling its road map to protect Europe's seas, the European Ocean Pact, Brussels announced a summit on the state of the Baltic Sea in late September. The semi-enclosed sea is surrounded by industrial and agricultural nations Germany, Poland, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and the three Baltic states. Connected to the Atlantic only by the narrow waters of the Danish straits, the Baltic is known for its shallow, low-salinity waters, which are highly sensitive to the climate and environmental changes that have accumulated over the years. 'Today, the once massive Baltic cod stocks have collapsed, herring stocks in several sub-basins are balancing on critical levels, sprat recruitment is at a record low and wild salmon stocks are in decline,' Swedish European MP Isabella Lovin, rapporteur for the EU committee of fishing, warned in a report, calling the situation 'critical'. The Baltic Sea is home to some of the world's largest dead marine zones, mainly due to excess nutrient runoff into the sea from human activities on land – a challenge the sea has long grappled with. The runoff has primarily been phosphorus and nitrogen from waste water and fertilisers used in agriculture, as well as other activities such as forestry. It causes vast algae blooms in summer, a process known as eutrophication that removes oxygen from the water, leaving behind dead seabeds and marine habitats and threatening species living in the Baltic. Today, agriculture is the biggest source of nutrient pollution. Marine biodiversity in the relatively small sea has also deteriorated due to pollution from hazardous substances, land use, extraction of resources and climate change, according to the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM). 'The state of the Baltic Sea is not good,' Maria Laamanen, a senior advisor at the Finnish environment ministry, told AFP. Climate change poses 'a massive additional challenge' for the marine environment, she said. Of the world's coastal seas, the Baltic Sea is warming the fastest. A 2024 study said sea surface and sea floor temperatures have increased by 1.8°C and 1.3°C in the Finnish archipelago in the northern Baltic Sea, in the period from 1927 to 2020. The consequences of rising temperatures already affect species, while increased rainfall has led to more runoff from land to sea. Better waste water treatment and gypsum treatment of agricultural soil, as well as an expansion of protected marine areas in Finland, have had a positive effect on the maritime environment, according to Laamanen, who said environmental engagement had grown in recent years. 'The situation would be much worse without the measures already implemented,' she said. In her report, Lovin called for an ambitious reform of fisheries, with stronger attention paid to environmental and climate change impacts. The report also questioned whether the Baltic could continue to sustain industrial-scale trawling, and suggested giving 'priority access to low-impact fisheries and fishing for human consumption'. The head of the Finnish fishermen's association (SAKL) Kim Jordas said eutrophication was to blame for the declining fish stocks in the Baltic Sea, not overfishing. 'Looking at cod for example, it is entirely due to the state of the Baltic Sea and the poor oxygen situation,' Jordas told AFP. In Finland, the number of commercial fishermen has been declining, with a total of around 400 active today.
Euronews
3 days ago
- Politics
- Euronews
EU unveils Ocean Pact ahead of UN conference in France
The European Commission presented a plan aimed at better protecting oceans on Thursday, ahead of the UN Oceans Conference (UNOC) in Nice, France, next week. It says the European Ocean Pact is a 'comprehensive' roadmap to protect the ocean, promote a blue economy and support the well-being of people living in coastal areas. The pact brings together EU ocean policies under one single framework to address threats facing the bloc's oceans. It lays out several key priorities, including protecting and restoring ocean health, boosting the EU's blue economy, supporting coastal and island communities, advancing ocean research, enhancing maritime security and defence, and strengthening ocean diplomacy. 'It will not only benefit the planet, but also the people who call the coast their home, and the generations who will steward our oceans tomorrow,' European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis, added that it wasn't just a 'message in a bottle' but a concrete plan for action. "It also offers immense potential for more investments in a sustainable blue economy, and it is key for our security," he added. Headline pledges include proposing a new European law on the oceans by 2027 and revising two maritime directives to better protect biodiversity. But environmental NGOs aren't so sure. While the pact shows 'tentative steps' in the right direction, they say there are 'critical gaps' which must be addressed. They consider it a missed opportunity for the EU to show leadership at the UNOC, where it will present the Pact next week. In a joint statement, a group of six leading environmental NGOs said the Pact falls short of delivering the urgent action and binding targets that are needed to protect oceans. BirdLife Europe, ClientEarth, Oceana, Seas At Risk, Surfrider Foundation Europe, and the WWF European Policy Office welcomed the announcement but warned that to be successful, it must lead to the immediate implementation of existing obligations and include legally binding targets. Vera Coelho, deputy vice-president of Oceana in Europe, said it was a 'missed opportunity' for the EU to show leadership at the upcoming UNOC. 'It proposes to continue the same failed, case-by-case approach that has enabled destructive practices like bottom trawling to continue for decades inside the EU's so-called 'protected' areas,' Coelho explains. 'It opens the door to revising key pieces of EU law, such as the Common Fisheries Policy, rather than proposing an implementation and enforcement strategy to address the real root of the ocean's multiple crises: lack of political will by member states to meet agreed targets and implement EU law. 'By deferring real action, this lacklustre Pact puts at risk the future of Europe's seas and of the people who rely on them.' The NGOs are urging EU institutions and member states to strengthen the pact with concrete measures and ensure that ocean protection becomes central to ocean-related EU laws. 'While the Commission promises in the Ocean Pact to work on enforcement, it falls short, offering no concrete plan for how ocean laws, which exist on paper, will actually be implemented at sea,' adds Juliet Stote, law and policy advisor on marine ecosystems at ClientEarth. 'Currently, EU laws are continuously breached - with destructive activities such as bottom trawling routinely taking place in Marine Protected Areas, and overfishing continuing in EU waters - this must stop.' Paris's Seine could be the next river granted legal personhood under plans announced by Mayor Anne Hidalgo yesterday. Paris City Council has called on Parliament to pass a law giving the River Seine rights, so that "an independent guardian authority' can defend it in court, according to yesterday's resolution. It follows a swell of similar 'rights for nature' breakthroughs since New Zealand first recognised the Whanganui River as a living entity in 2017. And is another step forward in Paris's bid to protect the Seine from pollution. 'From the reclamation of the banks in 2016 to the historic swimming in the Seine during the Paris Games, to the improvement of water quality, we have never stopped acting to restore our river to its rightful place!' Hidalgo wrote in a LinkedIn post yesterday. The foundations of the plan were laid by a citizens' convention on the future of the Seine, which concluded last month. 50 citizens chosen at random questioned experts and took part in weeks of debate in order to reach a collective opinion. They concluded that the Seine should have fundamental rights, including 'the right to exist, to flow and to regenerate.' On the basis of this opinion, the City of Paris is tabling a bill in Parliament to give the Seine the rights to be properly protected. Une publication partagée par Anne Hidalgo (@annehidalgo) 'Recognising rights to the oceans, rivers or the Seine is neither a symbolic gesture nor a legal fantasy: it is a political response to the ecological emergency. It is urgent to act!' Hidalgo added. The Seine must be considered an ecosystem that "no one can claim ownership of", where the preservation of life takes "precedence over everything", according to the convention. Paris has been on a major cleanup mission on the Seine's behalf in recent years, spending €1.4 billion on its recovery. That includes investments like building a giant underground tub to store wastewater so that it doesn't run into the river. It received a boost in the run-up to the Olympics last year, as French authorities sought to get the river clean enough to host water sports events. After much speculation, failed E. coli tests, and one Mayoral swim, some Olympic events were able to go ahead. But a plan to open the Seine for public swimming last summer was delayed until this year. Now, authorities say it will be opened up at three points from 5 July. Despite ongoing issues from pollution, rising water temperatures, and pesticide runoff, the Seine has been getting markedly healthier. As the citizens' convention noted, the river is now home to around 40 species of fish - up from just four in 1970. Opening the river up to the public this summer could present "additional risks", it warned, and so will need to be carefully managed. Communities around the world have campaigned for fragile ecosystems like rivers and mountains to be afforded legal rights in order to better protect them. The legislation protecting the Whanganui River combines Western legal precedent with Indigenous beliefs, as Maori people have long considered it a living entity. In 2022, Spain granted personhood status to Europe's biggest saltwater lagoon, the Mar Menor, marking the first time a European ecosystem gained the right to the conservation of its species and habitats, and protection from harmful activities such as intensive agriculture. Last year, an Ecuadorian court ruled that pollution had violated the rights of the Machángara River, which runs through Quito. It enforced an article of Ecuador's Constitution that recognises the rights of nature. Hidalgo wants to see the Seine join this privileged company. 'Paris is committed to putting the Seine back in its rightful place, in the heart of our city and as close as possible to its inhabitants,' she wrote. 'A new adventure begins!'
New Straits Times
3 days ago
- General
- New Straits Times
Ailing Baltic Sea in need of urgent attention
HELSINKI: Decades of pollution and climate change have caused fish to disappear from the Baltic Sea at an alarming rate, with the European Union on Thursday vowing to make the sea an "urgent priority". Unveiling its road map to protect Europe's seas, the European Ocean Pact, Brussels announced a summit on the state of the Baltic Sea in late September. The semi-enclosed sea is surrounded by industrial and agricultural nations Germany, Poland, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and the three Baltic states. Connected to the Atlantic only by the narrow waters of the Danish straits, the Baltic is known for its shallow, low-salinity waters, which are highly sensitive to the climate and environmental changes that have accumulated over the years. "Today, the once massive Baltic cod stocks have collapsed, herring stocks in several sub-basins are balancing on critical levels, sprat recruitment is at a record low and wild salmon stocks are in decline," Swedish European MP Isabella Lovin, rapporteur for the EU Committee of Fishing, warned in a report, calling the situation "critical". The Baltic Sea is home to some of the world's largest dead marine zones, mainly due to excess nutrient runoff into the sea from human activities on land -- a challenge the sea has long grappled with. The runoff has primarily been phosphorus and nitrogen from waste water and fertilisers used in agriculture, as well as other activities such as forestry. It causes vast algae blooms in summer, a process known as eutrophication that removes oxygen from the water, leaving behind dead seabeds and marine habitats and threatening species living in the Baltic. Today, agriculture is the biggest source of nutrient pollution. Marine biodiversity in the relatively small sea has also deteriorated due to pollution from hazardous substances, land use, extraction of resources and climate change, according to the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM). "The state of the Baltic Sea is not good," Maria Laamanen, a senior advisor at the Finnish environment ministry, told AFP. Climate change poses "a massive additional challenge" for the marine environment, she said. Of the world's coastal seas, the Baltic Sea is warming the fastest. A 2024 study said sea surface and sea floor temperatures have increased by 1.8 and 1.3 degrees Celsius respectively in the Finnish archipelago in the northern Baltic Sea, in the period from 1927 to 2020. The consequences of rising temperatures already affect species, while increased rainfall has led to more runoff from land to sea. Better waste water treatment and gypsum treatment of agricultural soil, as well as an expansion of protected marine areas in Finland, have had a positive effect on the maritime environment, according to Laamanen, who said environmental engagement had grown in recent years. "The situation would be much worse without the measures already implemented," she said. In her report, Lovin called for an ambitious reform of fisheries, with stronger attention paid to environmental and climate change impacts. The report also questioned whether the Baltic could continue to sustain industrial-scale trawling, and suggested giving "priority access to low-impact fisheries and fishing for human consumption". The head of the Finnish Fishermen's Association (SAKL) Kim Jordas said eutrophication was to blame for the declining fish stocks in the Baltic Sea, not overfishing. "Looking at cod for example, it is entirely due to the state of the Baltic Sea and the poor oxygen situation," Jordas told AFP. In Finland, the number of commercial fishermen has been declining, with a total of around 400 active today. - AFP
