Indian ocean experts have raised an alarm over the issue of plastic pollution in oceans along the Indian coastline just ahead of the United Nations Ocean Conference scheduled from June 9 to 13 in Nice, France, according to HT.
“Ten years after COP21 and the Paris Agreement, UNOC-3 represents a historic opportunity to establish a binding global framework, and the Nice Agreement will constitute a real international pact for the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean,” officials told HT.
Plastic in oceans is reportedly among the biggest threats to marine life in India, a global survey involving marine scientists said.
“It is alarming that around 5% of marine catch from coastal waters contains plastic waste”, Sunil Mohamed, Chair of the Sustainable Seafood Network of India and former principal scientist at the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) who is one of three experts from India who participated in the survey told HT.
He said that coordinated and joint efforts of public and government agencies by taking strict measures can help tackle the crisis. “There is inherent resilience in ocean ecosystems, and hence good fisheries management and environmental care could greatly help to restore the ecosystems,” he added.
Will UN Summit Live Up to Expectations?
This revelation comes ahead of the onset of the United Nations Ocean Conference, where France will host world leaders this week to confront the global “emergency” in the oceans. Central to this goal is the enactment of the High Seas Treaty, a landmark global pact signed in 2023 to protect marine life in the international waters beyond national jurisdiction.
France had pinned success at Nice on delivering the 60 ratifications necessary to bring the treaty into force, warning the conference would be a failure without it, reported AFP. However, only about half of the required ratifications had been secured ahead of the summit. Those outstanding will be pushed to explain when they intend to do so.
France will also lead diplomatic efforts in Nice to rope more countries behind a moratorium on deep-sea mining, a contentious practice already opposed by 33 nations so far.
Increasing support for the moratorium would serve as a message to US President Donald Trump, who wants to allow seabed mining in international waters despite concerns over how little the deep sea ecosystems is understood.
It would also carry weight ahead of a closely watched meeting of the International Seabed Authority in July, which is negotiating global rules for the emerging deep-sea mining industry.
