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Urgent Action Needed To Conserve Deep SeasSunday, 18 June 2006, 1:36 pm Press Release: United Nations Urgent Action Needed To Conserve Deep Seas Swift and wide ranging actions are needed to conserve the world's entire marine environment amid fears that humankind's exploitation of the deep seas and open oceans is rapidly passing the point of no return, according to a United Nations-backed report issued today that calls for urgent measures to conserve areas where more than 90 per cent of the planet’s living biomass lives. The new study, ‘Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Deep Waters and High Seas', which was issued jointly by the UN Environment Programme (<"http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=480&ArticleID=5296&l=en">UNEP) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN), argues that the many lessons learnt on conserving coastal waters should be adapted and applied right across the marine world, including in areas beyond national jurisdiction. "Humankind's ability to exploit the deep oceans and high seas has accelerated rapidly over recent years. It is a pace of change that has outstripped our institutions and conservation efforts whose primary focus have been coastal waters where, until recently, most human activity like fishing and industrial exploration took place,” said Achim Steiner, UNEP’s Executive Director. “We now most urgently need to look beyond the horizon and bring the lessons learnt in coastal water to the wider marine world," he added at the report's launch in New York, which took place as countries and experts are holding talks on the law of the sea. With more than 90 per cent of the planet's living biomass the weight of life—found in the oceans, the report underlines the value of the deep seas and open oceans and highlights how science is only now just getting to grips with the wealth of life, natural resources and ecosystems existing in the marine world. “Well over 60 per cent of the marine world and its rich biodiversity, found beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, is vulnerable and at increasing risk,” said Ibrahim Thiaw, Acting Director General of IUCN. “Governments must urgently develop the guidelines, rules and actions needed to bridge this gulf. Otherwise we stand to lose and to irrevocably damage unique wildlife and critical ecosystems many of which moderate our very existence on the planet.” The <"http://www.unep.org/pdf/IUCN_Report_16June06.pdf" target="_blank">report, launched at the UN Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (<"http://www.un.org/Depts/los/consultative_process/consultative_process.htm">UNICPOLOS) which feeds into the UN General Assembly, also highlights the way fisheries, pollution and other stresses such as those arising from global climate change are impacting and affecting the marine world. Less than 10 per cent of the oceans have been explored with only one millionth of the deep sea floor having been subject to biological investigations but the report states that over half – 52 per cent -- of the global fish stocks are fully exploited. Overexploited and depleted species have also increased from about 10 per cent in the mid 1970s to 24 per cent in 2002. “Once limited largely to shipping and open ocean fishing, commercial activities at sea are expanding rapidly and plunging ever deeper. Deep sea fishing, bioprospecting, energy development and marine scientific research are already taking place at depths of 2,000 m or more,” says the report's author, Kristina M. Gjerde, High Seas Policy Advisor to IUCN’s Global Marine Program. Taking into account the discussions in various international meetings, she also outlines several options aimed at the conservation and sustainable management of the deep seas and open oceans. These include among other things, actions and measures that reflect an integrated approach to oceans management based on ‘ecological boundaries' rather than just political ones and giving higher levels of protection to vulnerable species like deep sea fish. Other steps include the creation of a “precautionary system of marine protected areas” along with improved impact assessments that reflect the full range of possible human activities across the total marine environment. Electronic versions of the report are available on the home pages of the <"http://www.unep.org/regionalseas/">UNEP Regional Seas Programme and the <"http://www.iucn.org/themes/marine/index.htm">IUCN Marine Programme). Ends
Urgent Action Needed To Conserve Deep Seas And Open Oceans: Joint UN Report 10:04 AM, 17 Jun 2006 
Swift and wide ranging actions are needed to conserve the world’s entire marine environment amid fears that humankind’s exploitation of the deep seas and open oceans is rapidly passing the point of no return, according to a United Nations-backed report issued today that calls for urgent measures to conserve areas where more than 90 per cent of the planet’s living biomass lives. The new study, ‘Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Deep Waters and High Seas’, which was issued jointly by the UN Environment Programme (<"http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=480&ArticleID=5296&l=en">UNEP) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN), argues that the many lessons learnt on conserving coastal waters should be adapted and applied right across the marine world, including in areas beyond national jurisdiction. "Humankind's ability to exploit the deep oceans and high seas has accelerated rapidly over recent years. It is a pace of change that has outstripped our institutions and conservation efforts whose primary focus have been coastal waters where, until recently, most human activity like fishing and industrial exploration took place,” said Achim Steiner, UNEP’s Executive Director. “We now most urgently need to look beyond the horizon and bring the lessons learnt in coastal water to the wider marine world," he added at the report’s launch in New York, which took place as countries and experts are holding talks on the law of the sea. With more than 90 per cent of the planet’s living biomass—the weight of life—found in the oceans, the report underlines the value of the deep seas and open oceans and highlights how science is only now just getting to grips with the wealth of life, natural resources and ecosystems existing in the marine world. “Well over 60 per cent of the marine world and its rich biodiversity, found beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, is vulnerable and at increasing risk,” said Ibrahim Thiaw, Acting Director General of IUCN. “Governments must urgently develop the guidelines, rules and actions needed to bridge this gulf. Otherwise we stand to lose and to irrevocably damage unique wildlife and critical ecosystems many of which moderate our very existence on the planet.” The <"http://www.unep.org/pdf/IUCN_Report_16June06.pdf" target="_blank">report, launched at the UN Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (<"http://www.un.org/Depts/los/consultative_process/consultative_process.htm">UNICPOLOS) which feeds into the UN General Assembly, also highlights the way fisheries, pollution and other stresses such as those arising from global climate change are impacting and affecting the marine world. Less than 10 per cent of the oceans have been explored with only one millionth of the deep sea floor having been subject to biological investigations but the report states that over half – 52 per cent -- of the global fish stocks are fully exploited. Overexploited and depleted species have also increased from about 10 per cennt in the mid 1970s to 24 per cent in 2002. “Once limited largely to shipping and open ocean fishing, commercial activities at sea are expanding rapidly and plunging ever deeper. Deep sea fishing, bioprospecting, energy development and marine scientific research are already taking place at depths of 2,000 m or more,” says the report’s author, Kristina M. Gjerde, High Seas Policy Advisor to IUCN’s Global Marine Program. Taking into account the discussions in various international meetings, she also outlines several options aimed at the conservation and sustainable management of the deep seas and open oceans. These include among other things, actions and measures that reflect an integrated approach to oceans management based on ‘ecological boundaries' rather than just political ones and giving higher levels of protection to vulnerable species like deep sea fish. Other steps include the creation of a “precautionary system of marine protected areas” along with improved impact assessments that reflect the full range of possible human activities across the total marine environment. Electronic versions of the report are available on the home pages of the <"http://www.unep.org/regionalseas/">UNEP Regional Seas Programme and the <"http://www.iucn.org/themes/marine/index.htm">IUCN Marine Programme). ENDS
“For too long economics and environment have seemed like players on rival teams,” said UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner, whose home country, Germany, is currently hosting the World Football Cup. “There have been a lot of nasty challenges and far too many own goals. We need to make these two sides of the development coin team players, players on the same side,” he added. Mr. Steiner, 45, former Director-General of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) which has over 1,000 members that include States, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in 140 countries, succeeds fellow-countryman Klaus Toepfer, who stepped down after two four-year terms. The new UNEP chief has previously served as head of the World Commission on Dams, chief technical advisor of a programme for sustainable management of Mekong River watersheds, and Senior Policy Advisor of IUCN’s Global Policy Unit, where he developed partnerships between the environmental community, the World Bank and the UN system.
UNEP’s mission statement mandates it to “provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.” Noting that far too many of the “enormous wealth of nature’s services” are becoming limited as a result of abuse, poor management and over-exploitation, Mr. Steiner said one of his main challenges was to end this “antagonism between economic and environmental policy.” He stressed that he would be focusing on how markets and economic incentives and international treaties and agreements can be made to work in a way which is “pro environment, pro poor and thus pro sustainable development.” “Economic issues that touch on the environment are all too often pushed out of environmental conventions,” he declared. “Meanwhile, environmental issues are generally left standing on the touch line, little more than spectators and rarely asked to play a real role in the great economic game. Everyone, not just those in the developing but also those in the developed world, stand to lose out if this continues.” United Nations http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/daily-textile-industries-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=18539 UN: Ocean fishing outstrips conservation New York (dpa) - Overfishing in deep seas and oceans has outstripped efforts at conservation, requiring swift and wide-ranging actions to save the world's fish stocks, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said Friday. Achim Steiner, the new UNEP executive director, said institutions created for conservation cannot keep up with the accelerated exploitation of marine life, particularly in deep seas and oceans. UNEP worked with the World Conservation Union (WCU) in issuing a report entitled Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Deep Waters and High Seas. Steiner was a former president of WCU, which has branches in 110 countries. The acting president of WCU, Ibrahim Thiaw, said 60 per cent of the world's rich marine biodiversity, which is beyond the limits of national jurisdictions, is "vulnerable and at increased risk." "Governments must urgently develop the guidelines, rules and actions needed to bridge this gulf," Thiaw said. "Otherwise we stand to lose and to irrevocably damage unique wildlife and critical ecosystems many of which moderate our very existence on the planet." The joint report on ecosystems and biodiversity said 90 per cent of the world's oceans remain unexplored and 50 per cent of fish collected from areas deeper than 3,000 metres are new species. Some cold-water coral reefs are as old as 8,500 years, measuring 40 kilometres by 3 kilometres and as much as 3-metre high. They can can be found off the coast of 41 countries. It said consumption of wild marine fish has increased from 20 million tons to 84.5 million tons a year over a 42-year period, and said 42 per cent of the yearly catch went into international trade. The world now has about 3.5 million fishing boats plying the oceans and they are responsible for most deep sea fishing. Of the total fleet of fishing boats, 1 per cent are classified as large industrial vessels with the capacity to catch 60 per cent of all fish caught globally. The catch from high seas bottom trawlers in 2001 was worth up to 400 million dollars. But the worldwide value of illegal, unreported and unregulated catches is estimated at between 4.9 billion dollars and 9.5 billion dollars, the report said.
London: Damage to the once pristine habitats of the deep oceans by pollution, litter and overfishing is running out of control, the United Nations warned on Saturday. In a report that indicates that time is running out to save them, the U.N. said mankind's exploitation of the deep seas and oceans was ``rapidly passing the point of no return''. Last year, some 85 million tonnes of fish were pulled from the global oceans, 100 million sharks and related species were butchered for their fins, some 250,000 turtles became tangled in fishing gear, and 300,000 seabirds, including 100,000 albatrosses, were killed by illegal longline fishing. In their place went three billion individual pieces of litter — about eight million a day — joining the 38,000 pieces of discarded plastic that currently float on every square kilometre of ocean and kill another million seabirds each year. The water temperature rose and its alkalinity fell — both the result of climate change. Coral barriers off Australia and Belize are dying and newly-discovered reefs in the Atlantic have already been destroyed by bottom trawling. Achim Steiner, executive director of the U.N.'s environment programme, said: ``Humankind's ability to exploit the deep oceans and high seas has accelerated rapidly over recent years. It is a pace of change that has outstripped our institutions and conservation efforts.'' Mining, for example, could soon spread to the sea floor for the first time. The Canadian company Nautilus Minerals plans to dig for deposits of gold and copper off Papua New Guinea. More than 90 per cent of the world's living organisms are found in the oceans, but a new U.N. report says that researchers are only now beginning to understand the nature of their ecosystems. "Today, these environments are considered to have been the very cradle for life on Earth.'' Saturday's warning from the U.N. came as officials and experts met in New York to discuss ways the international community could better police activities in international waters. Mr Steiner said: ``Well over 60 per cent of the marine world and its rich biodiversity is found beyond the limits of national jurisdiction and is vulnerable and at increasing risk. Governments must urgently develop guidelines, rules and actions needed to bridge this gulf.'' The U.N. says countries need to manage oceans along ecological boundaries rather than political borders. It says more research is needed to investigate the 90 per cent of the oceans that remain unexplored. It also calls for greater protection for vulnerable species such as cod, marlin and swordfish, which have lost 90 per cent of their global stocks over the last century. Kristina Gjerde, high seas policy adviser with the International Conservation Union's global marine programme, who wrote the new report, said: ``Once limited largely to shipping and open ocean fishing, commercial activities at sea are expanding rapidly and plunging ever deeper.'' She said the effects of climate change made conservation efforts more important. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 http://www.hindu.com/2006/06/19/stories/2006061901871500.htm |