The actress and social activist Jane Fonda has been in charge of delivering the dossier with the petition and 5.5 million signatures, from people from 157 countries, demanding the immediate approval of a global and binding treaty for the protection of the oceans. The document was delivered, at a ceremony held on Tuesday, February 21 at the UN headquarters in New York, to Rena Lee, chair of the sessions of the fifth round of negotiations of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Outside the National Jurisdiction.
The main point of this international summit sponsored by the UN is precisely the negotiation of the final draft and approval of a treaty for the protection of the oceans.
Without a strong and binding Global Ocean Treaty it will be practically impossible to protect 30% of the world's oceans by 2030, which is known as the 30x30 objective that was approved at the biodiversity summit in Montreal in December 2022, he recalls. Greenpeace, an organization that has led the global collection of signatures in support of this agreement. The 30x30 goal "is the minimum that the scientific community indicates is necessary to allow the oceans to recover from decades of pollution, overfishing and other industrial activities."
Simultaneously to the delivery of signatures in New York, at the Greenpeace offices in Madrid, an event was held on Tuesday 21 with the participation of numerous personalities broadcast via streaming and hosted from Madrid by Carlos Bardem and Elena Anaya, and from New York by Jon Kortajarena and Pilar Marcos, head of Oceans who is part of the Greenpeace delegation at the United Nations.
The event brought together other personalities who were already Greenpeace ambassadors for the oceans, including director Daniel Guzmán, actresses Lucía Jiménez, Marta Belenguer and musicians such as Mercedes Ferrer, Rebeca Jiménez, Txexu Altube or Virginia Maestro, renewing their commitment to the oceans.
Jane Fonda participated on Tuesday 21st in a press conference with Minister Hervé Berville, Secretary of State for the Sea of the Republic of France. Jane Fonda joined the delivery of the petition, coordinated by Only One (a Senegalese social organization) and Greenpeace, with Anta Diouf, a community leader in Senegal who represents fisherwomen and processors in the region.
“We need a Global Ocean Treaty and we need it now. We cannot take the risk of delaying it any further. I urge you as a mother, grandmother and citizen of this world: let us put aside politics, special interests and the inertia that tends to drag big and bold ideas into practice, and let us do this, for every life on earth," Jane said. Fonda, actress and activist.
“We fish processors and the fishing communities we belong to face real challenges due to the scarcity of fish resources. The fishermen who supply us with fish risk their lives at sea because of this shortage. The ocean is a world heritage site when it is protected. Therefore, we call on the world leaders present in New York and our local authorities to conclude this treaty in order to protect our oceans, lives and jobs”, comments Anta Diouf, leader of a coastal community in Senegal.
“Millions of people around the world depend on healthy oceans for their livelihoods. We know that leaders can, and must, deliver a United Nations Ocean Treaty in this round of negotiations. More than 5 million people from almost every continent have joined us in calling for a Treaty. Leaders have the opportunity to cement their legacy: protection or exploitation of the oceans”, declared Celia Ojeda, Head of Biodiversity at Greenpeace Spain.
The previous round of negotiations at this conference failed in 2022 because countries in the global north offered too little, too late, on financing and benefit-sharing of marine genetic resources. It is vital that in this new round of negotiations, the countries of the global north make a timely and credible offer to the global south that can finalize the Treaty.
Without a binding Treaty, there is no legal roadmap for protecting large areas of international waters in Marine Protected Areas. The oceans, which cover 70% of the planet, are the largest ecosystem on earth and a key ally in the fight against climate change. They face multiple threats: plastic pollution, overfishing, destructive fishing practices, and a fledgling deep-sea mining industry. Currently, less than 1% of the oceans are protected.
