The Ocean Decade Conference organized by UNESCO has concluded with the Barcelona Declaration in which countries are asked to defend the seas against pollution and warming and implement practices that prevent overfishing.
More than 1,500 people (with heads of state and government, expert scientists, NGOs, representatives of the private sector) have participated in this meeting, which has been above all a place of exchange to practically adapt scientific disciplines to better management of the seas.
The document highlights the need to "understand the global distribution and impacts of marine pollution on human health and ecosystems" with a focus on land and sea, including the identification of priority pollutants and those that are emerging and not regulated.
It thus refers to the pressing problem for the oceans of the expansion of dead zones, with little oxygen, resulting from the excessive growth of aquatic plants due to excess nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) used as fertilizers. The loss of habitat and biodiversity are some of its feared effects.
Added to this alarm are plastic spills, the subject of a complex negotiation to agree on an ongoing global treaty. And along with them, spills of dangerous, toxic, bioaccumulative and persistent substances continue to poison the sea.
The text focuses on the risks and threats that overfishing entails and establishes as a priority providing the means “to achieve sustainable management of industrial fishing” and points out the need to “promote small-scale fishing and aquaculture” with criteria equally “sustainable, resilient and equitable.”
The idea of avoiding overexploitation of marine resources also appears when it is judged a priority to “strengthen sustainable aquatic food production and innovation” by paying attention to strengthened public-private collaboration systems.
It is even advocated to take this same approach by supporting ocean plans in transboundary areas with a relevant scope.
Experts consider that it is necessary to adjust catches to better scientific knowledge of resources and the state of biodiversity. Françoise Gaill, vice president of the Ocean and Climate platform, like many other scientists, considers it necessary to even "stop all fishing subsidies", especially those aimed at industrial fishing, considering it the most "dangerous" for this long-term management. .
Sergi Tudela, general director of Maritime Policy and Sustainable Fisheries (who participated in the closing), has been reiterating in his interventions the need to “bring science to fisheries management” and has given as an example the fisheries co-management committees organized in Catalonia where scientists intervene on an equal footing with other sectors participating in this same objective.
Marine ecologists such as Guillermo Ortuño have called for regulations in the face of the enormous impact of certain fishing gear, such as bottom trawling (which destroys ecosystems) or industrial longlining (which kills without an established limit species that are not the initial target of the catches but that die accidentally, such as turtles, seabirds or sharks).
The document calls for “promoting ocean economy projects” that are also climate resilient, giving priority to those that “integrate environmental conservation with socioeconomic benefits for local communities.”
The final declaration or document of conclusions deems it necessary to have better knowledge of climate impacts; for example by better understanding deep-sea ecosystems, including vulnerability to climate change.”
Countries must also “rapidly scale up” mitigation (gas reduction) actions, including through “marine renewable energy” resources.
Likewise, it is considered necessary to evaluate with technical, ecological and social criteria the potential impacts that the proposed initiatives for the elimination of marine carbon dioxide may have.
Possible methods include the addition of minerals to increase the absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere or initiatives by oil companies presenting projects to store CO2 on the seabed.
During the conference, UNESCO and 13 cities announced the creation of the Cities with the Ocean platform, a new alliance between the organization, cities and coastal ports. Among them are Auckland (New Zealand), Barcelona, Matosinhos (Portugal), Lagos (Nigeria), Miami Beach (USA), Mombasa (Kenya), Nice (France), Quingdao (China), Rimini and Venice.
At the meeting it was confirmed that 75% of the world's megacities are located on the coasts and that their inhabitants are the most affected by disasters, extreme weather or rising seas.
UNESCO will support these cities with programs adapted to their needs, such as strengthening the Tsunami Ready program, training urban planners (to anticipate risks related to coastal erosion) or collecting scientific data for instruments developed by UNESCO such as the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS).
A first international coastal cities symposium will be held next year in Qingdao, China, one of China's largest coastal cities.
The network will also be highlighted in Nice in June 2025, within the framework of the United Nations Ocean Conference.
During the conference, the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, presented the Catalan capital's candidacy to host a new collaborative center for the Decade of the Oceans, focused on the development of the sea economy. This center would reinforce the investments and activities already underway in Barcelona to promote innovation and technology related to this economic field. This sector already represents 4.3% of the GDP and 1.4% of the city's employment.
And in this sense, UNESCO will carry out a feasibility study before September 2024, with a view to opening this center before the end of the year. Since 2021, 12 collaborative centers have already been created under the auspices of UNESCO, to coordinate research and protection actions decided within the framework of the Ocean Decade.
UNESCO's priority is to promote scientific knowledge. Therefore, thanks to the Decade of the Oceans, thousands of data and information have been collected on issues such as ocean acidification and oxygenation, sea level rise, biodiversity or bathymetry.
With the International Hydrographic Organization, UNESCO has mapped 25% of the seabed in high definition, up from just 6% in 2017. The organization is also making progress in mapping marine species, thanks to its Ocean Biodiversity Information System. (OBIS), which compiles 126 million observations of more than 180,000 species.
While fewer than one in two school curricula mentioned ocean protection in 2021, UNESCO is supporting 100 of its Member States to integrate environmental and ocean education into their school curricula while in parallel rethinking teacher training .
