Latest news with #oceanconservation
Malay Mail
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Malay Mail
Fishy promises? Ocean protection goal drifts off course as US backpedals
BREST (France), June 3 — A global target of having 30 per cent of the oceans become protected areas by 2030 is looking more fragile than ever, with little progress and the United States backing away, conservationists say. 'With less than 10 per cent of the ocean designated as MPAs (marine protected areas) and only 2.7 per cent fully or highly protected, it is going to be difficult to reach the 30 per cent target,' said Lance Morgan, head of the Marine Conservation Institute in Seattle, Washington. The institute maps the MPAs for an online atlas, updating moves to meet the 30 per cent goal that 196 countries signed onto in 2022, under the Kunling-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The ambition is notably at risk because 'we see countries like the US reversing course and abandoning decades of bipartisan efforts' to protect areas of the Pacific Ocean, Morgan said. That referred to an April executive order by President Donald Trump authorising industrial-scale fishing in big swathes of an MPA in that ocean. Currently, there are 16,516 declared MPAs in the world, covering just 8.4 per cent of the oceans. But not all are created equal: some forbid all forms of fishing, while others place no roles, or almost none, on what activities are proscribed or permitted. Fish farmers take part in trap fishing in a pond in the Dombes plateau, Saint Germain sur Renom in France. — AFP pic 'Only a third of them have levels of protection that would yield proper benefits' for fish, said Joachim Claudet, a socio-ecology marine researcher at France's CNRS. Daniel Pauly, a professor of fisheries science at Canada's University of British Columbia, said 'the marine protected areas have not really been proposed for the protection of biodiversity' but 'to increase fish catches'. A proper MPA 'exports fish to non-protected zones, and that should be the main reason that we create marine protected areas -- they are needed to have fish', he said. When fish populations are left to reproduce and grow in protected areas, there is often a spillover effect that sees fish stocks outside the zones also rise, as several scientific journals have noted, especially around a no-fishing MPA in Hawaiian waters that is the biggest in the world. One 2022 study in the Science journal showed a 54 per cent in crease in yellowfin tuna around that Hawaiian MPA, an area now threatened by Trump's executive order, Pauly said. Fishing bans For such sanctuaries to work, there need to be fishing bans over all or at least some of their zones, Claudet said. But MPAs with such restrictions account for just 2.7 per cent of the ocean's area, and are almost always in parts that are far from areas heavily impacted by human activities. Port Cros National park guard monitor and diver Vincent Bardinal observes marine plants known as Posidonia, the pearl of the Mediterranean sea, during a dive in the bay of La Palud off the National Park of the island of Port Cros in Hyeres, southeastern France, on May 8, 2025. — AFP pic In Europe, for instance, '90 per cent of the marine protected areas are still exposed to bottom trawling,' a spokesperson for the NGO Oceana, Alexandra Cousteau, said. 'It's ecological nonsense.' Pauly said that 'bottom trawling in MPAs is like picking flowers with a bulldozer... they scrape the seabed'. Oceana said French MPAs suffered intensive bottom trawling, 17,000 hours' worth in 2024, as did those in British waters, with 20,600 hours. The NGO is calling for a ban on the technique, which involves towing a heavy net along the sea floor, churning it up. A recent WWF report said that just two per cent of European Union waters were covered by MPAs with management plans, even some with no protection measures included. The head of WWF's European office for the oceans, Jacob Armstrong, said that was insufficient to protect oceanic health. Governments need to back words with action, he said, or else these areas would be no more than symbolic markings on a map. — AFP
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
World coming up short on promised marine sanctuaries
A global target of having 30 percent of the oceans become protected areas by 2030 is looking more fragile than ever, with little progress and the United States backing away, conservationists say. "With less than 10 percent of the ocean designated as MPAs (marine protected areas) and only 2.7 percent fully or highly protected, it is going to be difficult to reach the 30 percent target," said Lance Morgan, head of the Marine Conservation Institute in Seattle, Washington. The institute maps the MPAs for an online atlas, updating moves to meet the 30 percent goal that 196 countries signed onto in 2022, under the Kunling-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The ambition is notably at risk because "we see countries like the US reversing course and abandoning decades of bipartisan efforts" to protect areas of the Pacific Ocean, Morgan said. That referred to an April executive order by President Donald Trump authorising industrial-scale fishing in big swathes of an MPA in that ocean. Currently, there are 16,516 declared MPAs in the world, covering just 8.4 percent of the oceans. But not all are created equal: some forbid all forms of fishing, while others place no roles, or almost none, on what activities are proscribed or permitted. "Only a third of them have levels of protection that would yield proper benefits" for fish, said Joachim Claudet, a socio-ecology marine researcher at France's CNRS. Daniel Pauly, a professor of fisheries science at Canada's University of British Columbia, said "the marine protected areas have not really been proposed for the protection of biodiversity" but "to increase fish catches". A proper MPA "exports fish to non-protected zones, and that should be the main reason that we create marine protected areas -- they are needed to have fish", he said. When fish populations are left to reproduce and grow in protected areas, there is often a spillover effect that sees fish stocks outside the zones also rise, as several scientific journals have noted, especially around a no-fishing MPA in Hawaiian waters that is the biggest in the world. One 2022 study in the Science journal showed a 54 percent in crease in yellowfin tuna around that Hawaiian MPA, an area now threatened by Trump's executive order, Pauly said. - Fishing bans - For such sanctuaries to work, there need to be fishing bans over all or at least some of their zones, Claudet said. But MPAs with such restrictions account for just 2.7 percent of the ocean's area, and are almost always in parts that are far from areas heavily impacted by human activities. In Europe, for instance, "90 percent of the marine protected areas are still exposed to bottom trawling," a spokesperson for the NGO Oceana, Alexandra Cousteau, said. "It's ecological nonsense." Pauly said that "bottom trawling in MPAs is like picking flowers with a bulldozer... they scrape the seabed". Oceana said French MPAs suffered intensive bottom trawling, 17,000 hours' worth in 2024, as did those in British waters, with 20,600 hours. The NGO is calling for a ban on the technique, which involves towing a heavy net along the sea floor, churning it up. A recent WWF report said that just two percent of European Union waters were covered by MPAs with management plans, even some with no protection measures included. The head of WWF's European office for the oceans, Jacob Armstrong, said that was insufficient to protect oceanic health. Governments need to back words with action, he said, or else these areas would be no more than symbolic markings on a map. aag/ico/cbn/rmb/dhw
Arab News
a day ago
- Business
- Arab News
Nations urged to make UN summit a ‘turning point' for oceans
PARIS: Nations will be under pressure to deliver more than just rhetoric at a UN oceans summit in France next week, including much-needed funds to better protect the world's overexploited and polluted seas. The third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) seeks to build global unity and raise money for marine conservation even as nations disagree over deep-sea mining, plastic trash and overfishing. On Sunday, hosts France are expecting about 70 heads of state and government to arrive in Nice for a pre-conference opening ceremony, including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Oceans are 'in a state of emergency' and the June 9 to 13 meeting 'will not be just another routine gathering,' said UN under-secretary-general Li Junhua. 'There's still time to change our course if we act collectively,' he told reporters. Most countries are expected to send ministers or lower-level delegates to the summit, which does not carry the weight of a climate COP or UN treaty negotiation or make legally binding decisions. The United States under President Donald Trump — whose recent push to fast-track seabed mining in international waters sparked global outrage — is unlikely to send a delegation at all. France has promised the summit will do for ocean conservation what the Paris Agreement did for global climate action. Nations present are expected to adopt a 'Nice Declaration': a statement of support for greater ocean protection, coupled with voluntary additional commitments by individual governments. Greenpeace has slammed the text — which was agreed after months of negotiation — as 'weak' and said it risked making Nice 'a meaningless talking shop.' Pacific leaders are expected to turn out in force and demand, in particular, concrete financial commitments from governments. 'The message is clear: voluntary pledges are not enough,' Ralph Regenvanu, environment minister for Vanuatu, told reporters. The summit will also host business leaders, international donors and ocean activists, while a science convention beforehand is expected to draw 2,000 ocean experts. France has set a high bar of securing by Nice the 60 ratifications needed to enact a landmark treaty to protect marine habitats outside national jurisdiction. So far, only 28 countries and the European Union have done so. Olivier Poivre d'Arvor, France's oceans envoy, says that without the numbers the conference 'will be a failure.' Bringing the high seas treaty into force is seen as crucial to meeting the globally-agreed target of protecting 30 percent of oceans by 2030. The summit could also prove influential on other higher-level negotiations in the months ahead and provide 'a temperature check in terms of ambition,' said Megan Randles, head of Greenpeace's delegation at the Nice conference. In July the International Seabed Authority will deliberate over a long-awaited mining code for the deep oceans, one that Trump has skirted despite major ecological concerns. That comes in the face of growing calls for governments to support an international moratorium on seabed mining, something France and roughly 30 other countries have already backed. And in August, nations will again seek to finalize a binding global treaty to tackle plastic trash after previous negotiation rounds collapsed. Countries and civil society groups are likely to use the Nice meeting to try to shore up support ahead of these proceedings, close observers said. Nations meeting at UN conferences have struggled recently to find consensus and much-needed finance to combat climate change and other environmental threats. Oceans are the least funded of all the UN's sustainable development goals but it wasn't clear if Nice would shift the status quo, said Angelique Pouponneau, a lead negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States. 'With so many competing crises and distractions on the global agenda, it's hard to be confident that the level of ambition needed will actually show up,' Pouponneau told AFP. Costa Rica, which is co-hosting the conference with France, said public and private commitments of $100 billion with 'clear timelines, budgets and accountability mechanisms' could be expected. 'This is what is different this time around — zero rhetoric, maximum results,' Maritza Chan Valverde, Costa Rica's permanent representative to the UN, told reporters. Pepe Clarke, oceans practice leader from WWF, told AFP there was 'an understandable level of skepticism about conferences.' But he said Nice must be 'a turning point... because to date the actions have fallen far short of what's needed to sustain a healthy ocean into the future.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
World coming up short on promised marine sanctuaries
A global target of having 30 percent of the oceans become protected areas by 2030 is looking more fragile than ever, with little progress and the United States backing away, conservationists say. "With less than 10 percent of the ocean designated as MPAs (marine protected areas) and only 2.7 percent fully or highly protected, it is going to be difficult to reach the 30 percent target," said Lance Morgan, head of the Marine Conservation Institute in Seattle, Washington. The institute maps the MPAs for an online atlas, updating moves to meet the 30 percent goal that 196 countries signed onto in 2022, under the Kunling-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The ambition is notably at risk because "we see countries like the US reversing course and abandoning decades of bipartisan efforts" to protect areas of the Pacific Ocean, Morgan said. That referred to an April executive order by President Donald Trump authorising industrial-scale fishing in big swathes of an MPA in that ocean. Currently, there are 16,516 declared MPAs in the world, covering just 8.4 percent of the oceans. But not all are created equal: some forbid all forms of fishing, while others place no roles, or almost none, on what activities are proscribed or permitted. "Only a third of them have levels of protection that would yield proper benefits" for fish, said Joachim Claudet, a socio-ecology marine researcher at France's CNRS. Daniel Pauly, a professor of fisheries science at Canada's University of British Columbia, said "the marine protected areas have not really been proposed for the protection of biodiversity" but "to increase fish catches". A proper MPA "exports fish to non-protected zones, and that should be the main reason that we create marine protected areas -- they are needed to have fish", he said. When fish populations are left to reproduce and grow in protected areas, there is often a spillover effect that sees fish stocks outside the zones also rise, as several scientific journals have noted, especially around a no-fishing MPA in Hawaiian waters that is the biggest in the world. One 2022 study in the Science journal showed a 54 percent in crease in yellowfin tuna around that Hawaiian MPA, an area now threatened by Trump's executive order, Pauly said. - Fishing bans - For such sanctuaries to work, there need to be fishing bans over all or at least some of their zones, Claudet said. But MPAs with such restrictions account for just 2.7 percent of the ocean's area, and are almost always in parts that are far from areas heavily impacted by human activities. In Europe, for instance, "90 percent of the marine protected areas are still exposed to bottom trawling," a spokesperson for the NGO Oceana, Alexandra Cousteau, said. "It's ecological nonsense." Pauly said that "bottom trawling in MPAs is like picking flowers with a bulldozer... they scrape the seabed". Oceana said French MPAs suffered intensive bottom trawling, 17,000 hours' worth in 2024, as did those in British waters, with 20,600 hours. The NGO is calling for a ban on the technique, which involves towing a heavy net along the sea floor, churning it up. A recent WWF report said that just two percent of European Union waters were covered by MPAs with management plans, even some with no protection measures included. The head of WWF's European office for the oceans, Jacob Armstrong, said that was insufficient to protect oceanic health. Governments need to back words with action, he said, or else these areas would be no more than symbolic markings on a map. aag/ico/cbn/rmb/dhw
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Nations urged to make UN summit a 'turning point' for oceans
Nations will be under pressure to deliver more than just rhetoric at a UN oceans summit in France next week, including much-needed funds to better protect the world's overexploited and polluted seas. The third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) seeks to build global unity and raise money for marine conservation even as nations disagree over deep-sea mining, plastic trash and overfishing. On Sunday, hosts France are expecting about 70 heads of state and government to arrive in Nice for a pre-conference opening ceremony, including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Oceans are "in a state of emergency" and the June 9 to 13 meeting "will not be just another routine gathering", said UN under-secretary-general Li Junhua. "There's still time to change our course if we act collectively," he told reporters. Most countries are expected to send ministers or lower-level delegates to the summit, which does not carry the weight of a climate COP or UN treaty negotiation or make legally binding decisions. The United States under President Donald Trump -- whose recent push to fast-track seabed mining in international waters sparked global outrage -- is unlikely to send a delegation at all. France has promised the summit will do for ocean conservation what the Paris Agreement did for global climate action. Nations present are expected to adopt a "Nice Declaration": a statement of support for greater ocean protection, coupled with voluntary additional commitments by individual governments. Greenpeace has slammed the text -- which was agreed after months of negotiation -- as "weak" and said it risked making Nice "a meaningless talking shop". Pacific leaders are expected to turn out in force and demand, in particular, concrete financial commitments from governments. "The message is clear: voluntary pledges are not enough", Ralph Regenvanu, environment minister for Vanuatu, told reporters. The summit will also host business leaders, international donors and ocean activists, while a science convention beforehand is expected to draw 2,000 ocean experts. - Temperature check - France has set a high bar of securing by Nice the 60 ratifications needed to enact a landmark treaty to protect marine habitats outside national jurisdiction. So far, only 28 countries and the European Union have done so. Olivier Poivre d'Arvor, France's oceans envoy, says that without the numbers the conference "will be a failure". Bringing the high seas treaty into force is seen as crucial to meeting the globally-agreed target of protecting 30 percent of oceans by 2030. The summit could also prove influential on other higher-level negotiations in the months ahead and provide "a temperature check in terms of ambition", said Megan Randles, head of Greenpeace's delegation at the Nice conference. In July the International Seabed Authority will deliberate over a long-awaited mining code for the deep oceans, one that Trump has skirted despite major ecological concerns. That comes in the face of growing calls for governments to support an international moratorium on seabed mining, something France and roughly 30 other countries have already backed. And in August, nations will again seek to finalise a binding global treaty to tackle plastic trash after previous negotiation rounds collapsed. Countries and civil society groups are likely to use the Nice meeting to try to shore up support ahead of these proceedings, close observers said. - Turning point - Nations meeting at UN conferences have struggled recently to find consensus and much-needed finance to combat climate change and other environmental threats. Oceans are the least funded of all the UN's sustainable development goals but it wasn't clear if Nice would shift the status quo, said Angelique Pouponneau, a lead negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States. "With so many competing crises and distractions on the global agenda, it's hard to be confident that the level of ambition needed will actually show up," Pouponneau told AFP. Costa Rica, which is co-hosting the conference with France, said public and private commitments of $100 billion with "clear timelines, budgets and accountability mechanisms" could be expected. "This is what is different this time around -- zero rhetoric, maximum results," Maritza Chan Valverde, Costa Rica's permanent representative to the UN, told reporters. Pepe Clarke, oceans practice leader from WWF, told AFP there was "an understandable level of scepticism about conferences". But he said Nice must be "a turning point... because to date the actions have fallen far short of what's needed to sustain a healthy ocean into the future". np-aag/klm/phz
