At the end of the “Immersed in change” forum held on June 7 and 8 in Costa Rica, more than 26 nations signed a “declaration of peace in the ocean”. Signatories committed to taking measures to ensure the sustainability of marine resources.
At least 26 countries signed a “declaration of peace in the ocean” on Saturday June 8 in Costa Rica at the end of the “Immersed in change” forum, one year before the United Nations Conference on the Oceans in France. Among the signatories are Germany, Spain, Sweden, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Israel, South Korea and Costa Rica and France, who will be co-organizers of the meeting of the UN planned in Nice (south-east). At the end of two days of discussions, the 50 participating countries called for action to protect the oceans.
“It was time for us to declare peace”
“We are committed to scaling up transformative ocean actions, to support the activities of nature-positive economies, based on the best possible science and scientific information, traditional knowledge and innovation,” they said in a document.
“Protecting the ocean and the sustainable use of marine resources is not a possibility, but an imperative,” said the UN Under-Secretary-General for Social Affairs, Li Junhua, at the opening of the forum. Included in this 12-point “peace declaration” is a call to ratify the High Seas Protection Treaty, adopted in 2023 by more than 70 countries and aimed at protecting waters far from states’ exclusive economic zones (EEZs), or approximately 370 kilometers from their coasts.
