Giving a call to cut the green house gas emissions for saving the oceans, the UN said that the oceans are in trouble with 60 per cent of the major marine ecosystems degraded or are used unsustainably.
“Deep cuts in our greenhouse gas emissions are required if we want to reverse the declining health of the Ocean,” UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean’s Peter Thomson said. He was quoted in the UN News.
Thomson said that as the world approaches the massive task of Socio-economic recovery from COVIO 19, the set interest of the species lies in investing public funds into a future of sustainable projects that help the environment and the climate
WHY CARE OCEAN?
Stating that billions of people depend on Oceans for their livelihood from the seas, Thomson said that about 57 million people depend on fisheries. Moreover, he said that oceans generate 50 per cent of the oxygen and is often described as the lungs of the planet. The water body is also the planet’s largest carbon sink. “It is said that trouble for the Ocean means trouble for the people for we cannot have a healthy planetary ecosystem without having a healthy Ocean,” he said.
The UN envoy has urged to think about the six principles the e UN Secretary laid down in his Earth Day address this year. He maintained that the future of human health with respect to sustainable food, socio-economic systems, renewable energy and stable climate relied on a healthy Ocean. “Therefore, I trust that the tragedies suffered through the COVID-19 crisis will not be repeated by returning to the planet polluting policies that preceded the pandemic. The best interests of our countries and communities in the clean, green transition,” he told the UN news
HUMAN KIND TO RELY ON OCEAN
Noting that Oceans should be given the respect it deserved, Thomson said the approach was all about getting the balance right between protection and production. “The Ocean will provide us with the future we want, be it through better medicines, nutrition renewable energy, Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, marine biotechnologies, ecotourism, the greening of the global shipping feet more, these will give us the resilience and sustainability we seek,” he said
SMALL ISLAND
He mentioned that small Island Developing States are mainly vulnerable to global economic shocks and they are in need of special assistance. The UN Envoy said that immediate attention is required to restore travel connections between compatible countries in order to allow some resumption of tourism once lockdown measures are eased. The relations are also required for trade and services between compatible countries.
