Antonio Guterres told presidents, ministers, diplomats and environmental activists from nearly 200 countries that seas are being severely damaged by pollution, over-fishing and the effects of climate change as well as rubbish. He cited a recent study that warned discarded plastic rubbish could outweigh fish by 2050 if nothing is done. Mr Guterres said the aim of the five-day conference is "to turn the tide" and solve the problems that "we created". He said competing territorial and fights over natural resources have blocked progress for far too long. "We must put aside short-term national gain to prevent long-term global catastrophe," the Secretary-General said.
The conference, which began on World Environment Day, is the first major event to focus on climate since President Donald Trump announced last Thursday that the US will withdraw from the landmark 2015 Paris Climate Agreement - a decision criticised by Bolivia's President Evo Morales and other speakers. General Assembly President Peter Thomson, a Fijian diplomat, said "the time has come for us to correct our wrongful ways". "We have unleashed a plague of plastic upon the ocean that is defiling nature in so many tragic ways," he said. "It is inexcusable that humanity tips the equivalent of a large garbage truck of plastic into the ocean every minute of every day."
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has opened a global conference in a bid to tackle sea pollution
Mr Thomson also warned that illegal and destructive fishing practices and harmful subsidies for fisheries "are driving our fish stocks to tipping points of collapse". And he said increasing human-caused carbon emissions are not only driving climate change but causing rising sea levels by warming the oceans and making them more acidic with less oxygen which harms marine life. Mr Thomson said the conference probably represents the best opportunity ever "to reverse the cycle of decline that human activity has brought upon the ocean" and spur action to meet the UN goal for 2030 to conserve and manage the ocean's resources.
The conference asked governments, UN bodies and civil society groups to make voluntary commitments to take action to improve the health of the oceans. So far, more than 730 commitments have been received, most on managing protected areas, according to conference spokesman Damian Cardona. At the end of the conference on Friday, nearly 200 countries will issue a Call for Action addressing marine issues which Mr Cardona said has already been agreed. It urges nations to implement long-term and robust measures to reduce the use of plastics, including plastic bags, and counteract sea-level rise that threatens many island nations as well as rising ocean temperatures and increasing ocean acidity.
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