(San José) At least 26 countries signed a “Declaration of Ocean Peace” in Costa Rica on Saturday at the end of the “Immersed in Change” forum, one year before the United Nations Ocean Conference in France.
Among the signatories are Germany, Spain, Sweden, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Israel, South Korea and Costa Rica and France, which will be co-organizers of the meeting of the UN planned in Nice (south-east).
At the end of two days of discussions, the 50 participating countries called for action to protect the oceans.
“We are committed to scaling up transformative ocean actions, to support the activities of nature-positive economies, based on the best possible science and scientific information, traditional knowledge and innovation,” they said in a document.
“The ocean can no longer endure our mistreatment and indifference. That is why we decided in Costa Rica that it was time for us to declare peace,” said Costa Rican Foreign Minister Arnoldo André.
“Protecting the ocean and the sustainable use of marine resources is not a possibility, but an imperative,” launched the UN Under-Secretary-General for Social Affairs, Li Junhua, at the opening of the forum.
Included in this 12-point “peace declaration” is a call to ratify the High Seas Protection Treaty, adopted in 2023 by more than 70 countries and aimed at protecting waters far from states’ exclusive economic zones (EEZs), or about 370 kilometers from their coasts.
