UN agencies have launched a plan to improve the management of oceans and coastal areas.
The Blueprint for Ocean and Coastal Sustainability sounds the alarm about the health of the oceans, and recalls that although the ocean accounts for 70% of the surface of the planet, only 1% of it is protected.
Presented during the 36th session of the General Conference, the Blueprint was prepared for consideration by the UN conference on sustainable development.
It proposes a series of concrete measures to:
- Create a global blue carbon market as a means of creating direct economic gain through habitat protection
- Fill governance gaps in the high seas, by reinforcing the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
- Support the development of green economies in small island developing states
- Promote research on ocean acidification - how to adapt to it and mitigate it
- Increase institutional capacity for scientific monitoring of oceans and coastal areas
- Reform and reinforce regional ocean management organisations
- Promote responsible fisheries and aquaculture in a green economy
- Strengthen legal frameworks to address aquatic invasive species
- "Green" the nutrient economy (fertilizers for example)
- Enhance coordination, coherence and effectiveness of the UN system on ocean issues
The Blueprint was prepared by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
It emphasises that 60% of the world's major marine ecosystems have been degraded or are being used unsustainably, resulting in huge economic and social losses. The international community pledged to tackle these challenges at the Summits of Rio (1992) and Johannesburg (2002). However the commitments made remain largely ineffectual and their objectives have not been met. Such has been the case for the pledge to restore fish stocks to sustainable levels by 2015, and the promise to create networks of protected marine areas by 2012.
"The full implementation of many of these goals and targets will require further efforts by States, intergovernmental organisations and the international community," state the authors of the report. They claim the present situation is the result of insufficient political will and resources, inadequate institutional capacities, insufficient scientific data and market imbalances.
"Greening the Blue Economy will be science and technology driven," they conclude. "But success will depend on sound policy processes and effective institutional arrangements and will therefore require commitment and funding from the international community as well as nations and industry".
