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5th July 2022 (7 Topics)

Lisbon Declaration

Context

All 198 members of the United Nations unanimously adopted July 1, 2022 the Lisbon Declaration on ocean conservation.

About

  • The ocean covers 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, is the planet's largest biosphere, and is home to up to 80 percent of all life in the world.
  • It generates 50 percent of the oxygen we need, absorbs 25 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions and captures 90 percent of the additional heat generated from those emissions.
  • It is not just ‘the lungs of the planet’ but also its largest carbon sink - a vital buffer against the impacts of climate change.
  • It nurtures unimaginable biodiversity and produces food, jobs, mineral and energy resources needed for life on the planet to survive and thrive. 
  • Recently, more than 6,000 participants, including 24 Heads of State and Government, and over 2,000 representatives of civil society, met in Lisbon for the United Nations Ocean Conference, co-hosted by the Governments of Portugal and Kenya.

Lisbon Declaration

  • Protecting at least 30% of national maritime zones by 2030
  • Achieving carbon neutrality by 2040
  • Allocating funds to research on ocean acidification, climate resilience and surveillance
  • Scale-up Science-based and innovative actions to address ocean emergency
  • Support implementation of SDG14 (life below water) by empowering women and girls- recognising their participation is crucial to building a sustainable ocean-based economy
  • Protect biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, which lie outside the 200-mile (322-kilometre) exclusive economic zones of countries.
  • India:
    • Will take up the Coastal clean sea campaign (‘Swachh Sagar, Surakshit Sagar’.)
    • Ban on single-use plastics
  • Participants at the conference also agreed to work on preventing, reducing and controlling marine pollution. It includes:
    • Nutrient pollution
    • Untreated wastewater
    • Solid waste discharges
    • Hazardous substances
    • Emissions from the maritime sector, including shipping, shipwrecks
    • Anthropogenic underwater noise
  • Other pledges include developing and promoting innovative financing solutions to help create sustainable ocean-based economies as well as expanding nature-based solutions to help conserve and preserve coastal communities.

UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021 – 2030:

  • A vast majority of the ocean remains unmapped, unobserved and unexplored.
  • Our understanding of the ocean and its contribution to sustainability largely depends on our capacity to conduct effective ocean science - through research and sustained observations, supported by adequate infrastructures and investments.
  • The Decade provides a common framework to ensure that ocean science can fully support countries’ actions to sustainably manage the ocean and more particularly to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – through the creation of a new foundation, across the science-policy interface, to strengthen the management of the ocean and coasts for the benefit of humanity.
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