Dr Kwa Happy With UN Recommendations

The Prime Minister’s Special Envoy, Dr Eric Kwa, has acknowledged the four recommendations outlined by the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, at the Second United Nations Ocean Conference in Portugal on Monday.

He said he was pleased Mr Guterres captured all the impacts our oceans face, globally and offered recommendations.

 These recommendations include:

  • All stakeholders to invest in sustainable ocean economies for food, renewable energy and livelihoods.  
  • The ocean must become a model on how we can manage the global commons for our greater good, meaning preventing and reducing marine pollution of all kinds, both from land and sea-based sources and scaling-up effective area-based conservation measures and integrated coastal zone management. 
  • Economies to protect our oceans, and the people whose lives and livelihoods depend on them, from the impacts of climate change. All new coastal infrastructure investments from cities and villages to port installations, should be climate-resilient. The shipping sector should commit to net zero emissions by 2050, and present credible plans to implement these commitments. And we should invest more in restoring and conserving coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves, wetlands and coral reefs, which are instrumental in capturing carbon and enhancing people’s resilience and livelihoods.He further invited us to join the initiative he recently launched to achieve the goal of full early warning system coverage in the next five years. We will target efforts to reach coastal communities and those whose livelihoods depend on early warnings at sea. 
  • More science and innovation to propel us into a new chapter of global ocean action.

Dr Kwa invited economies to join the goal of mapping 80 per cent of the seabed by 2030, and encouraged the private sector to join partnerships that support ocean research and sustainable management.
 
He also urged governments to raise their level of ambition for the recovery of ocean health.

“It is true that we cannot have a healthy planet without a healthy ocean. Our failure to care for the ocean will have ripple effects across the world.

“The ocean produces more than half of the oxygen we breathe and it is the main source of sustenance for more than one billion people. Hence, a healthy and productive ocean is vital to our shared future,” Dr Kwa reiterated.

He is expected to hold various bilateral meetings with the Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister, the Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister of Timor Leste, with Australian Minister for Environment & Water and the CEO and Founder of Common Seas, this week.

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