January 09, 2025 06:33 pm (IST)

Make this your homepage

Foreign

Los Angeles wildfire leaves 5 dead, forces 1 lakh including celebs to flee, Hollywood hills ablazed | PM Modi condoles death of six people in Tirupati stampede incident | Days after condemning Pak airstrikes, India in a first engages with Afghanistan's Taliban regime | 6 dead in stampede near Tirupati temple during token distribution to offer prayers | Prominent journalist-film producer Pritish Nandy dies of cardiac arrest at 73 | Thousands, including Hollywood stars, flee Los Angeles upscale neighbourhood as wildfire engulfs homes | Sheesh Mahal row: AAP leaders who were denied entry into CM's residence turn towards PM's house | Anna University sexual assault accused is a DMK supporter, not member: MK Stalin | Ajit Doval, Raja Dato discuss bilateral cooperation during India-Malaysia Security Dialogue | US President-elect Donald Trump threatens to use economic force to make Canada 51st US State, Justin Trudeau retorts sharply

At Ocean Conference, UN agencies commit to cutting harmful fishing subsidies

India Blooms News Service | | Jun 07, 2017, at 02:29 pm

#Ocean Conference # UN # cutting harmful fishing subsidies

New York, June 7(Just Earth News): As the international community focuses this week on preserving the health of global oceans and seas, the United Nations agencies on agriculture, environment and trade are committing to the sustainable trade of fisheries.

The agencies – the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) – are due to announce the commitment on Tuesday at The Ocean Conference, which opened yesterday at UN Headquarters in New York and wraps up on Friday, 9 June.

“Trade and trade-policies can facilitate the transition to sustainable ocean-based economies by increasing resource efficiency, improving the environment, enhancing inclusiveness and creating new green business opportunities,” according to the voluntary commitment.

One of outcomes of the commitment is the removal or reduction of harmful fisheries subsidies which are estimated to be as high as $35 billion.

The issue is “complicated and thorny,” according to the UN agencies. “For the majority of fisheries subsidies, there is a strong correlation with over capacity and overfishing.”

The commitment likely involves requesting countries to provide information on what subsidies they provide and prohibiting those that contribute to overfishing, as well as potentially giving differential treatment to developing countries.

The Ocean Conference focuses on the targets outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by Governments in 2015. In particular among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Goal 14 highlights the need to conserve and sustainably use oceans, seas and marine resources to benefit present and future generations.

The commitment on fisheries is one of some 850 commitments made at the Conference so far. The voluntary commitments are meant to be taken individually or in partnership by Governments, the UN system, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, and others, to support SDG14.

In addition to marking voluntary commitments, participants this week are also due to adopt, by consensus, a “Call to Action” to protect the world's oceans and seas.

Photo: FAO/Sia Kambou

Source: www.justearthnews.com

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.