16 th November Address to the United Nations General Assembly debate

Transcription

1 16 th November 2004 Address to the United Nations General Assembly debate My name is Karen Sack and I am speaking to you on behalf of my organization, Greenpeace International, 30 other organizations and the tens of millions of supporters that make up the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, and the countless numbers of marine species that inhabit this planet s oceans for whom healthy and clean marine ecosystems are essential for life. Today (November 16 th, 2004) marks the tenth anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This groundbreaking treaty took a major step towards international recognition of our oceans as a truly global resource, for which all nations have a shared responsibility. Ten years on, however, our oceans are in crisis, threatened by human activities such as overfishing, pollution and climate change. It is abundantly clear that unless States deal comprehensively with the current threats to marine life, we will face a future devoid of vibrant ocean ecosystems, thriving fish populations, and deep-sea biodiversity.

2 Greenpeace Primary among the threats facing high seas biodiversity, are the impacts of illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing. Eliminating IUU fishing is not simply a fisheries management issue since some of the most destructive high seas fishing is unregulated, goes unreported and has major implications for marine biodiversity in international waters. Addressing this problem is therefore the responsibility of everyone here today.

3 An example of unnecessary by catch taken from bottom trawling nets in the North Atlantic during a Greenpeace expedition to expose the deep sea destruction. Greenpeace/Davison For the past two years, the UNGA, the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Convention on Biological Diversity have all recognised the value of high seas ecosystems and the need to consider urgent measures to conserve them. The current Resolutions again speak of the need for urgent measures, yet they fall far short of the comprehensive and immediate protection that is so sorely needed to protect deep sea biodiversity. It is time to stop calling for urgent consideration and actually take action. The need to effectively regulate high seas bottom trawl fishing has been a key issue in the negotiation of the two Resolutions before you today. Bottom trawling has been identified by deep sea scientists as the most destructive activity currently impacting deep sea life.

4 Deep-sea features typically support slow-growing, long-lived species, which are particularly sensitive to disturbance. Fish inhabiting such ecosystems can live for up to 150 years and coral structures may reach several thousands of years in age. A single bottom trawl across such a vulnerable area cannot only destroy these coral structures, but alter the topography in such a way that they may never recover. And because many of the creatures some of which have yet to be discovered only occur in specific seamount ecosystems, they can be driven to extinction before they have even been identified. Examples of by catch taken by Greenpeace from bottom trawlers nets in the highs seas of the Tasman sea, including CITES listed black coral. Greenpeace/Grace As the poet Kahlil Gibran wrote, a little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle and that has to be the most exacting description of the precautionary principle to date, itself enshrined in many of the international conventions and decisions welcomed in the Resolutions before this body today.

5 A temporary moratorium on high seas bottom trawling would be a concrete act where with little knowledge available, precaution is exercised to provide the space to gather more knowledge about deep-sea ecosystems that can then be used to inform the policy-making process, and to ensure that the deep sea does not follow the disastrous path of many of the world s other fisheries. Today, United Nations member states are faced with a real and unique opportunity: to take action to mitigate and reverse the negative results of human impacts on the marine environment. Just outside this hall, in the Visitor s lobby, is a display showing some of the creatures that have been hauled up from the deep over the past few weeks, then tossed over the side as waste by industrialscale high seas bottom trawlers. Take a moment to view the evidence of the destruction that has taken place while you have been talking. There is a reality out there that has to underpin everything that is spoken about in here, and nations cannot ignore it. The environmental NGOs on whose behalf this statement is being made, believe that there is enough knowledge for states to take immediate action to ensure a vibrant, sustainable and equitable future for all of our oceans. Don t let short-term needs sacrifice long-term viability. Take the opportunity of this anniversary to act, and meet the vision for clean and healthy oceans for now and for the future. Thank-you