Some thirty heads of state or government promised, on Friday 11 February in Brest, at the One Ocean Summit organised by French President Emmanuel Macron, to do more to protect the ocean, notably through global treaties to protect the high seas and tackle plastic pollution.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced the launch of a coalition of the 27 EU Member States and 13 other countries to conclude a treaty to protect the high seas, which are not under the jurisdiction of any State. Negotiations, underway under the auspices of the UN since 2018, were interrupted by the Covid-19 outbreak. The fourth and theoretically final round of negotiations is scheduled for March in New York.
The United States has announced its support for the launch of negotiations under the auspices of the UN for an international agreement against plastic pollution. The United States thus joins some ten countries and the entire European Union. The launch of these negotiations will be discussed at the 5th UN Environment Assembly at the end of February, with the aim of reaching an international agreement to tackle the pollution caused by the 8.3 billion tonnes of plastics produced since the 1950s. “We need an agreement that ensures the highest possible level of ambition”, said the US climate envoy John Kerry.
The President of French Polynesia, Edouard Fritch, has announced plans for a “marine protected area of more than 500,000 km2” and areas reserved for coastal fishing of an equivalent size.
Emmanuel Macron also called for the ban of public subsidies encouraging overfishing and illegal fishing, a subject under discussion at the World Trade Organization. He also promised to do more to protect turtles, with devices to prevent them from getting caught in nets.
Fight against illegal fishing. Mr Macron spoke as well of strengthening the European framework for combating illegal fishing, which he called “a scourge”. France, Italy, Denmark, Portugal and the Netherlands have formed a small group, which will be expanded to include other countries, to take action to control and sanction illegal fishing activities in the Gulf of Guinea and the Mozambique Channel, the French president explained. Mr Macron also welcomed Iceland’s decision to “put an end to whaling”.
Cetaceans. Mr Macron spoke of initiatives in France to “avoid accidental captures” of cetaceans in the Bay of Biscay. “But the situation is not satisfactory, we will accelerate the measures. Fishermen are going through a very hard time”, he admitted.
Full EU commitment. The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, stressed the importance of the next few months to really move from words to action. At the end of February, we must “try to eliminate plastic pollution from our oceans and seas”. In March, in New York, the aim will be to ensure that, 40 years after the Convention on the Law of the Sea, we can finally have “an agreement on a convention on marine biodiversity on the high seas”.
It will also be necessary, Mr Michel stressed, to ensure that we are consistent when it comes, for example, to combating illegal or illicit fishing. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)