UNOC: Missed chance for marine protection.

The UN Ocean Conference 2022 in Lisbon has missed the opportunity for ambitious marine protection. The final declaration offers nothing more than non-commitments, criticizes a broad alliance of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

States shirk responsibility at UN Ocean Conference

With the merely voluntary initiatives that states presented at the conference, they are shirking their responsibility. It remains to be seen whether these voluntary measures will be implemented at all. There is neither a report on the achievement of the goals of the last conference nor a monitoring procedure for the implementation of the new declaration. The NGOs expect the German government to maintain the commitment shown in the G7 Ocean Deal in the international decisions still to be taken this year. This also applies to marine protection in the North and Baltic Seas.

A large number of individual initiatives launched at this year’s UN Ocean Conference are positive. These provide impetus in various areas, including deep-sea mining, fisheries and underwater noise:

With a bang on the first day of the conference, the Pacific island states of Palau and Fiji set a focus for the rest of the conference. They are calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) should not issue any permits for seabed mining for the time being. The mining industry must be prevented from irretrievably destroying the almost completely unexplored deep-sea ecosystems and violating human rights. Observers from Germany and many other countries around the world are calling for a complete ban on deep-sea mining.

Fisheries played an important role at this year’s conference. The importance of small-scale fisheries for food security and employment in the Global South was emphasized many times. Lack of access to fishing grounds, overfishing, illegal fishing and poor fisheries management were named as the main problems. The situation is exacerbated by the effects of the climate catastrophe on marine ecosystems. An end to overfishing can make a major contribution to climate protection and must therefore be the focus of international political discussions.

The reduction of underwater noise must be placed more firmly on the political agenda. A speed limit for merchant ships is one possibility. If the speed is reduced by 20 percent, the noise pollution is reduced by 60 percent. A simple measure that has an immediate effect. Representatives of the shipping industry, the UN Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Swedish government have stated that they are aware of the problem of underwater noise and support specific regulations.

Joint press release by BUND, Brot für die Welt, Forum Umwelt und Entwicklung, Misereor, Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V., Ozeanien-Dialog, Fair Oceans, SHARKPROJECT Pazifik-Netzwerk e.V., and WWF.