Greenpeace welcomes international agreement – contract must now be implemented quickly
New York / Vienna (OTS) – After nearly two decades of negotiations, the United Nations has finally reached an agreement to protect the high seas. The treaty is a major achievement and an important sign that environmental protection can triumph over profit interests and geopolitics. The treaty must now be ratified quickly so that the agreed goals can be implemented promptly.
“The agreement is a great achievement for ocean protection. However, the states must not rest on their laurels and must ratify and implement the treaty quickly. The clock is ticking, we only have a few more years to reach the 30×30 target,” says Ursula Bittner, species protection expert at Greenpeace in Austria. “With this agreement, we can finally protect the oceans effectively, strengthen our resilience to climate change and secure the livelihoods of billions of people,” Bittner continued.
A central point in the High Seas Protection Agreement is the 30×30 target. This states that by 2030 at least 30 percent of the seas must be placed under strong protection. This is the only way they can continue to fulfill their important role as climate regulators and conservationists. The basis for this point was laid just last December at the COP15 World Conference on Nature in Montreal.
“The agreed agreement also shows what significant victories civil society can achieve. Greenpeace campaigned for this treaty for almost two decades. Over 5.5 million people supported our petition, 475,000 votes came from Austria alone. Today is a win for all of them,” Bittner continued. “But the work goes on: we need to use this momentum to establish comprehensive protected areas and thus be able to successfully fend off new threats such as deep-sea mining.”
In the course of the negotiations, Greenpeace projected numerous marine protection messages onto the New York skyline. You can download the photos here:
Provided the credits are stated, the images are available for editorial use until March 15th. available.
Questions & contact:
Ursula Bittner
Species Conservation Expert
Greenpeace in Central and Eastern Europe
Mobil: (+43) 664 960 64 29
ursula.bittner@greenpeace.org
Annette Stolz
press secretary
Greenpeace in Central and Eastern Europe
Tel.: + 43 (0)664 61 26 725
Email: annette.stolz@greenpeace.org