[ad_1]
published
By Agence France-Presse
A project to create the world's largest marine sanctuary in Antarctic waters was canceled after the failure of a key conservation summit that failed to reach consensus. Environmentalists denounced Saturday the lack of scientific foresight.
(REUTERS / Pauline Askin / Files / MANILA BULLETIN)
Member States of the organization responsible for overseeing the sustainable exploitation of the Southern Ocean have failed at an annual meeting Friday to agree on a maritime protection zone 1.8 million square kilometers (1.1 million square miles).
The proposed sanctuary – about five times the size of Germany – would ban fishing in a large area of the Weddell Sea, protecting key species such as seals, penguins and whales.
A consensus is needed from the 24 members of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) and the European Union.
However, environmental groups have stated that Russia and China – whose concerns over compliance issues and fishing rights have been major obstacles in the past – have, along with Norway, played a role in rejecting the plan. .
"This was a historic opportunity to create the world's largest protected area on the Antarctic: protect wildlife, combat climate change and improve the health of our oceans," said Frida Bengtsson of Greenpeace in a statement. communicated.
"Twenty-two delegations came here to negotiate in good faith but, on the contrary, serious scientific proposals for urgent marine protection were disappointed by interventions that barely appealed to science and mocked any claim of real deliberation. "
The Antarctic is home to penguins, seals, toothfish, whales and a large number of krill, a staple for many species.
They are considered essential for scientists to study the functioning of marine ecosystems and understand the impacts of climate change on the oceans.
Plans were established in 2009 to establish a series of marine protected areas in the southern part allowing marine life to migrate between breeding and foraging grounds, but the process has been slow.
The CCAMLR Summit, held annually in Hobart, Australia, created a huge MPA supported by the United States and New Zealand around the Ross Sea in 2016, that of Great Britain, Germany and France.
In addition to the vast sanctuary of the Weddell Sea, proposals to create two new MPAs in East Antarctica and the Western Antarctic Peninsula have also been rejected this year. Together, the three zones would cover nearly three million square kilometers.
Andrea Kavanagh, head of Antarctic and Southern Ocean work at The Pew Charitable Trusts, described the failure to designate an MPA as "discouraging".
"Without an East Antarctic MPA, the vital feeding areas of Emperor and Adélis penguins, toothfish and many other species will not be safeguarded," she said in a statement.
CCAMLR issued a statement that the new MPAs were "a subject of intense discussion" and would be revisited at next year's meeting.
[ad_2]
Source link
