New York, Thursday 25, 2022 – UN Ocean Treaty talks are on the brink of failure because of the greed of countries in the High Ambition Coalition and others like the United States and Canada. They have prioritized hypothetical future profits from Marine Genetics Resources over protecting the oceans. This is undermining progress made on Marine Protected Areas in the draft Treaty text, and talks are now set to fail.
The High Ambition Coalition is risking abject failure to deliver on their commitments to protect the oceans and finalize a Treaty in 2022. Not only are they failing to finalize a Treaty during this round of negotiations, but the text is lowering its ambition by the minute. We are facing a Treaty that will struggle to deliver 30×30, and takes an unfair and neocolonial approach by refusing to commit any finance for the benefit of all countries.
Laura Meller, a Greenpeace Nordic oceans campaigner, said from New York: “The oceans sustain all life on Earth, but the greed of a few countries means this round of talks for a UN Ocean Treaty are now set to fail. The High Ambition Coalition has utterly failed. They should be the No Ambition Coalition. They’ve obsessed over their hypothetical future profits, undermining all the other progress made at these talks. Unless Ministers urgently pick up the phone today to their counterparts and hammer out a deal, this Treaty process will fail.
“Less than two months ago, I was in Lisbon, at the UN Ocean Conference, listening to these leaders promise they would deliver a strong Global Ocean Treaty this year. Now we are in New York, and world leaders with decision-making powers are nowhere to be found. They’ve broken their promises.”
“We are sad and angry. Billions of people rely on healthy oceans, and world leaders have failed all of them. It now looks like protecting 30% of the world’s oceans will be impossible. Scientists say this is the absolute minimum necessary to protect the oceans, and failure at these talks will jeopardize the livelihoods and food security of billions. We’re beyond disappointed.”
The lack of high-level political engagement in these talks has hamstrung them from the start, but it’s become clear in the last days that the High Ambition Coalition and other countries’ refusal to countenance any kind of financial commitments, no matter how small, will stop a Treaty from being agreed here. These countries include the United States and Canada.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned back in June at the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon that the ‘egoism’ of some countries was hampering progress in these talks. At that same conference, countries committed at the highest political levels to delivering a strong Treaty. They have not delivered on their commitments.
Failure to agree on a Treaty in 2022 will make delivering 30×30, protecting 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030, practically impossible. There are less than two full days of negotiations remaining. With talks set to fail, countries must now take urgent action, show flexibility and find a compromise to deliver a strong Treaty text on Friday. Ministers must also call counterparts to hammer out a deal, or talks will fail.
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Contact:
Tanya Brooks, Senior Communications Specialist at Greenpeace USA, (+1) 703-342-9226, [email protected]
James Hanson, Global Media Lead – [email protected] / +44 7801 212 994
