$63 Billion In Commitments Blahblah Ocean Protection Blah Government & Business Blahblahblah
Governments, businesses, organizations and research institutions made commitments toward improving marine health and productivity worth more than $63 billion at the Our Ocean 2019 conference in Oslo on Oct. 23 and 24. A total of 370 commitments were made at the conference, which was initiated by former U.S. secretary of state John Kerry in 2014 and has run annually ever since. Our Oceans brings together international leaders to share knowledge and experiences, and to commit to action for healthier oceans. This year, 500 people from more than 100 countries attended, as well as 100 youth delegates.
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While high-level statements like this can seem easy to get behind, the devil is often in the details, marine scientist Elisabeth Slooten of the University of Otago in New Zealand told Mongabay. Many governments and companies continue to make economically focused decisions that contradict their apparent environmental aims, said Slooten, who did not attend the conference but followed it from afar.
In the speech immediately following Solberg’s, 15-year-old climate activist and UNICEF ambassador Penelope Lea pointed out that the Norwegian government’s continued oil and gas explorations were misaligned with its professed dedication to climate-change mitigation. “My country is responsible for huge emissions,” she said. “Still we search for oil further north than ever before. I beg you, please step up and take responsibility as leaders.” Meanwhile, protestors picketed the entrance to the conference, criticizing the Norwegian government for promoting ocean health internationally while allowing mining operations to dump millions of tons of toxic waste into some of the country’s fjords.
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Reducing plastic pollution was also in the conference spotlight. “More than 8 million tons of plastic goes into the ocean every year,” Søreide said in her speech. “Unless we have more efficient waste-management systems on land, the problem will grow.” To that end, Norway, Sweden and Grenada committed to establishing and supporting a global, legally binding treaty to combat marine plastic pollution by 2023. Other countries and companies made individual commitments: Peru announced a ban on polystyrene, and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, comprised of 42 largely multinational companies, committed to investing $1.5 billion over the next five years to research toward reducing plastic production and developing better recycling techniques and cleanup efforts. The group has been criticized for focusing more on recycling than eliminating plastic, and a number of its founding members remain some of the world’s biggest investors in new plastic production plants.
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https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/commitments-worth-63-billion-pledged-for-ocean-protection/
