United Nations Takes Historic Initiative for the Oceans 


The 12th of August in Yeosu, South Korea, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched a new initiative to protect the oceans and the people whose livelihoods depend on them.



Ban Ki-moon urged countries to work together to achieve  more sustainable management of this valuable resource and cited the threats the Ocean currently faces, including pollution, overfishing and rising sea levels that threaten hundreds of millions of people.

By 2025, all countries should have set targets for reducing pollutant emissions, and at least 10% of coastal and marine areas should be subject to safeguards.

The initiative also calls for strengthening the fight against illegal fishing, rebuilding fish stocks and halting the spread of invasive species.



This is the first time that the UN has shown a real commitment to take explicit action for ocean conservation. This initiative has been entitled "Oceans Compact".



Here are some excerpts from the speech by Ban Ki-moon:

- « We risk irrevocable changes in processes that we barely comprehend, such as the great currents that affect weather patterns. Ocean acidification (from absorbed carbon emissions) is eating into the very basis of our ocean life; and sea level rise threatens to re-draw the global map at the expense of hundreds of millions of the world's most vulnerable people »

Speaking of the Ocean Compact initiative : « It contributes to international peace and security, the equitable and efficient use of ocean resources, the protection and preservation of the marine environment and the realisation of a just and equitable economic order »

- « The world's oceans are key to sustaining life on the planet »