Source: WWF
07 May 2007, Renaca, Chile – A landmark agreement has been reached to end high seas bottom trawling, one of the world’s most destructive fishing practices, in nearly a quarter of the world’s oceans.
The deal, made at an international fisheries meeting in Chile by some 20 countries, including the majority of the world’s high seas fishing nations, seeks to protect marine life and vulnerable ecosystems in a huge area of the oceans — from Australia to South America and from the Equator to the Antarctic.
“The agreement is a great leap forward for halting the decline in ocean biodiversity and establishing good fisheries management on the high seas,” said Alistair Graham, High Seas Policy Advisor at WWF International.
The agreement will exclude bottom trawling from high seas areas where vulnerable ecosystems are likely or known to occur, until an impact assessment is undertaken and until precautionary measures to prevent destruction of marine life, such as vulnerable fish stocks, cold water corals and sponges, are implemented.
Observers will also be required on all high seas bottom trawlers to ensure that regulations are followed. The cost of these observers is to be borne by the fishing vessel. This, together with rising fuel prices, and the requirement to conduct research and assessments of the fisheries, will increase the cost of fishing and may well render high seas bottom trawling uneconomic and effectively lead to its end.
The deal goes into force on 30 September, well ahead of a deadline set by the UN General Assembly to halt bottom trawling in areas not covered by competent fisheries management organizations by the end of 2007.
The meeting was less successful with regards to open water fisheries. Important stocks of squid and mackerel are fished in the area. Some of these stocks are feeling the brunt of high fishing levels. Chilean jack mackerel, one of the economically most important fisheries in the South Pacific, has been reported as fully exploited. WWF is very concerned that the agreed interim measures to protect the pelagic mackerel stock while an agreement is being finalized are inadequate.
“If mackerel stocks are allowed to be overfished, the ecological, social and economic impacts would be serious, especially for dependent local communities and for species such as tuna and swordfish that feed upon mackerel,” Alistair Graham said.
Initiated in 2015, the French Ministry for the Armed Forces organized the first international conference “Defence and climate: what are the stakes?”. Since then, the Ministry has been constantly adapting and developing its capacity of anticipation.
On 25 January 2019, the UN Security Council held an open debate to discuss the security implications of climate-related disaster events. The meeting, initiated by the Dominican Republic, underscored the global nature of climate-related disasters. Most speakers highlighted the need for better climate risk management as an important contribution to safeguarding international peace and security. The debate marks the beginning of a year in which climate security ranks high on the UN’s agenda.
Today, Friday 25th January 2019, the UN Security Council will hold an open debate addressing the impacts of climate-related disasters on international peace and security (at 4pm CET and 10am EST). President Danilo Medina of the Dominican Republic will chair the meeting, which will also include the participation of several member states at ministerial level.
The unabated growth of natural resource consumption raises risks that we will outstrip the capacities of ecosystems and governance institutions. At the same time, to achieve important global goals related to poverty alleviation, public health, equity and economic development such as those embodied in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we will simultaneously need more resources and better management of natural resources everywhere.