Intense conversations, great initiatives, a fantastic festive atmosphere in the public Green Zone of the UN Ocean Conference and much stiffer terms in the governments’ Blue Zone – all under the Mediterranean sun and heavy police and army surveillance. Here we share only a few snapshots on the big and smaller topics moving lots of people from all continents, all shades of the civil society, scientists, public representatives. Had the two zones been closer together participants could have benefited even more from getting exposure to a wide range of experiences and views. Most were united by seeking to restore ocean health – the how, when and where are the focus, not anymore the whether.
Picture 1: From left to right: The moderator, Megan Jungwiwattanaporn of Pew Charitable Funds, who has followed the difficult WTO negotiations about stopping harmful fisheries subsidies; Angela Ellard, former Deputy DG of WTO; Sivaja Nair of Rise Up for the Ocean; Mamadou Diallo, Adviser in the Environment Ministry of Senegal; Zoila Bustamante, Head of Chilean artisanal fisher organisation CONAPACH; U. Rashid Sumaila, long-time researcher at the University of British Columbia, Canada, of WTO efforts to curb harmful subsidies or lack thereof; and Claire Delpeuch, Head of the OECD’s fisheries and aquaculture team.
Mundus maris has been an active supporter of the anti-subsidy campaign because, for example, 33% of African and more than 50% of Latin American fisheries are overfished, driven by subsidies. The competetion between local and foreign fleets means for every dollar of subsidies in low income countries, 7 dollars are spent in rich countries – a very uneven playing field. Rashid Sumaila suggested that repurposing subsidies could lift some countries over the poverty line. Claire Delpeuch added that moreover over 50% of the subsidies were at risk of benefitting illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing. That required enhanced exclusion mechanisms and improved information sharing within countries and internationally.
All panelists from the Blue Zone side event “Safeguarding deep-sea biodiversity and the climate: Integrating science and policy for a sustainable future” lined up at the end of an information session. They wanted to show how enhancing cross-sectoral collaboration for inclusive and equitable ocean management and governance can help bridge science, policy and action. This is at the heart of concerns of IPOS, the International Panel for Ocean Sustainability. The IPOS is being explored since some time. We reported. In its current configuration it is doing some pilot studies on demand from governments in need of faster and more integrated analyses across several information sources. This is why cross-sectoral collaboration is crucially important.
The BaseCamp in the public Green Zone of ‘La Baleine’ was the fantastic ‘docking station’ for all civil society participants at UNOC3. Offered gracefully by the Oceano Azul Foundation in collaboration with Rise Up for the Ocean and Fauna and Flora, it was the place to participate in exciting conversations, meet interesting people, network and make plans for forthcoming activities. One of the most inspiring events was organised by Brussels-based Seas At Risk.
Photo 3: Moderated by Tobias Troll (left), five panelists explored the challenge “Another Blue Economy is possible – and necessary!” The panelists were from left to right: Tariq Al-Olaimy, Faiths for UNOC3; Guy Standing, BIEN; Raphaëla le Gouvello, IUCN; Louise Carver, TBA21-Academy; and Jonathan Baines, World Resources Institute (WRI).
The panelists drew up some worrying figures as they discussed to which extent the economy is not heading scientific advice to remain within planetary boundaries. Louise Carver traced the accelerated destruction to decisions in 1972 to create CO2 markets rather than regulate emissions. This is now deeply ingrained in the official discourse of international banks, governments and policy thinking. Short-term profit seeking was still dominant as a result instead of setting a ceiling in terms of the carbon budget. That led to the privatisation of 70% of former commons. As a result, a third of global mangroves have been lost to shrimp aquaculture becoming a carbon source rather than a sink and generating economic migrants expelled from former commons.
This simple example illustrated that financialisation of nature is not the solution for the huge problems at hand, but rather the source of a deepening crisis. In this context, it was not more data that would bring about the radical change necessary. As the literacy about these issues tends to be very low, greater efforts in story telling and understandable narratives are a top priority so as to bring people along in the needed transformation and its locally adapted articulation. That conversation was worth all of UNOC3!.
On a lighter note, see some snapshots of our participation below.