Below is the message from UN Secretary-General António Guterres on the occasion of World Oceans Day, celebrated on June 8:
The ocean is the nourishing mother of all forms of life on Earth. But our ocean is in danger. And we only have ourselves to blame.
Climate change is causing sea levels to rise and poses an existential threat to small island developing states and coastal populations. Marine temperatures are reaching record levels, causing extreme weather events that we are all feeling the effects of. Ocean acidification is destroying coral reefs, severing a vital link in food chains and posing a threat to tourism and local economies. And unsustainable coastal development, overfishing, deep sea mining, uncontrolled pollution and plastic waste are causing considerable damage to marine ecosystems around the world.
There are, however, some glimmers of hope.
Last year, the General Assembly adopted a historic treaty, the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas not falling under national jurisdiction, the most important text on ocean governance in recent decades.
And with work underway to develop a legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution, we are getting closer to our shared goal of protecting the ocean. In a recent opinion, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea called on countries to take measures for the prevention, reduction and control of marine pollution resulting from greenhouse gas emissions, which also constitutes progress.
This year’s Future Summit and next year’s UN Ocean Conference in France provide opportunities to commit to action to restore and protect our precious marine and coastal ecosystems. Now is the time when governments, businesses, investors, scientists and communities must come together to defend our oceans.
On the occasion of World Oceans Day, let us make this year’s theme our own and profoundly renew our action in favor of our ocean.
