Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 6 June 2017

UN chief warns oceans are ‘under threat as never before’

EDITH M. LEDERER ever “to reverse the cycle tian said in an apparent
Associated Press of decline that human ac- reference to Trump’s deci-
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — tivity has brought upon the sion: “While some may con-
Secretary-General Anto- ocean” and spur action to tinue to deny man’s culpa-
nio Guterres opened the meet the U.N. goal for 2030 bility for the damaging ef-
first-ever U.N. conference to conserve and manage fects of climate change on
on oceans Monday with the ocean’s resources. islands and islanders ... no
a warning that the seas The conference asked gov- man, no island, no village
are “under threat as never ernments, U.N. bodies, and and no nation can deny
before,” with one recent civil society groups to make that trash in our oceans is
study warning that discard- voluntary commitments to of man’s own doing.” “And
ed plastic garbage could take action to improve the for this, man must clean up
outweigh fish by 2050 if health of the oceans. So his mess,” he said.
nothing is done. The U.N. far, over 730 commitments Bolivia’s Morales was more
chief told presidents, min- have been received, most forthright, telling the confer-
isters, diplomats and en- In this Aug. 13, 2015, file photo, a plastic bottle lies among other on managing protected ence that the government
vironmental activists from debris washed ashore on the Indian Ocean beach in Uswetakei- areas, according to con- of the United States, one
nearly 200 countries that yawa, north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. ference spokesman Da- of the world’s “main pollut-
oceans — “the lifeblood Associated Press. mian Cardona. At the end ers,” decided to leave the
of our planet” — are being speakers. Guterres said the and using them sustainably of the conference on Fri- Paris Agreement, “denying
severely damaged by pol- aim of the conference is is preserving life itself.” day, nearly 200 countries science, turning your backs
lution, overfishing and the “to turn the tide” and solve General Assembly Presi- will issue a Call for Action on multilateralism and at-
effects of climate change the problems that “we cre- dent Peter Thomson, a Fiji- addressing marine issues tempting to deny a future
as well as refuse. The five- ated.” He said competing an diplomat, said “the time which Cardona said has al- to upcoming generations.”
day conference, which be- interests over territory and has come for us to correct ready been agreed. This “has made it the main
gan on World Environment natural resources have our wrongful ways.” It urges nations to imple- threat to mother earth and
Day, is the first major event blocked progress for far too “We have unleashed a ment long-term and robust life itself,” Morales said.
to focus on climate since long in cleaning up and re- plague of plastic upon measures to reduce the use Baron Waqa, president of
President Donald Trump storing to health the world’s the ocean that is defiling of plastics, including plas- Nauru, the smallest U.N.
announced last Thursday oceans, which cover two- nature in so many tragic tic bags, and counteract member with just over
that the United States will thirds of the planet. ways,” he said. Thomson sea-level rise that threatens 10,000 people and a single
withdraw from the land- “We must put aside short- also warned that illegal many island nations as well island of just 21 square ki-
mark 2015 Paris Climate term national gain to pre- and destructive fishing as rising ocean tempera- lometers, said the nation’s
Agreement — a decision vent long-term global ca- practices and harmful sub- tures and increasing ocean exclusive economic zone
criticized by Bolivia’s Presi- tastrophe,” Guterres said. sidies for fisheries “are driv- acidity. Micronesia’s Presi- is over 15,000 times larger
dent Evo Morales and other “Conserving our oceans ing our fish stocks to tipping dent Peter Christian said and its economic survival

points of collapse.” And Pacific islanders are con- depends on tuna.
he said increasing human- cerned that the ocean has While Nauru and seven
caused carbon emissions been “left to heal itself” af- neighboring islands have
are not only driving climate ter being used as “a dump- taken action “to sustain-
change but causing rising ing ground for industrial ably manage our tuna,”
sea levels by warning the waste,” a weapons’ test- Waqa said tuna fishing is still
oceans and making them ing ground, and being pol- threatened by illegal, unre-
more acidic with less oxy- luted by humans on shores ported and unregulated
Lipstixaruba@outlook.com gen which harms marine and ships at sea. fishing which he said “is a
life. Thomson said the con- Stressing the importance of criminal act, akin to piracy,
ference probably repre- all countries being part of and must be addressed
sents the best opportunity the Paris agreement, Chris- with urgency.”q