At the ongoing UN meeting in Cali, Colombia, strategies are being discussed to reverse the loss of biodiversity. Meanwhile, a new report from Greenpeace International warns that the target of protecting 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030 is at risk of not being met.
Nearly two years have passed since the world’s countries agreed in Montreal, Canada, on a global framework to reverse the loss of biodiversity.
At that time, they agreed to protect at least 30 percent of the world’s ecosystems on land and at sea by 2030. The current COP16 UN meeting in Cali, Colombia, will focus on how to achieve and measure these targets.
– This meeting is very important for the oceans. The oceans and their biodiversity are important to us in many ways. The ocean provides us with both food and many other ecosystem services that we depend on, says Pia Norling from the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management, who is negotiating marine issues at the meeting.
Several reports indicate that the status of the world’s oceans and their inhabitants is critical. Now, Greenpeace International warns that the goal of protecting 30 percent of the oceans may not be achieved until the next century, 80 years too late. Currently, marine protected areas cover only about one percent of the world’s oceans. In Sweden, around 14 percent of the sea is protected.
When asked about Sweden’s chances of reaching the sub-goal to restore 30 percent of ecosystems, Pia Norling from the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management commented:
– It depends on the political will to live up to this goal.
Several protected areas also risk not being effective enough. Both Greenpeace and the UN State of the Ocean Report, emphasize the importance of properly protected marine areas to support biodiversity in the oceans. In Sweden, bottom trawling is ongoing in many protected areas, especially in Kattegat and Skagerrak.
– The strength of the restrictions on human activity in a marine protected area determines how successful it will be, says Megan Randles, a policy advisor from Greenpeace UK participating in COP16, in a press release.
