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Critical delay – marine conservation as a development goal

Everything that is currently happening in marine research and policy-making is based on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This was signed by the leaders of the UN member states in September 2015 and includes 17 development goals. Marine protection is dealt with in Goal 14, which reads: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

The priorities are reflected in ten targets, which set the following objectives:

  1. By 2025, significantly reduce marine pollution;
  2. By 2020, sustainably manage and protect marine ecosystems;
  3. Minimize the impacts of ocean acidification;
  4. By 2020, end overfishing, illegal fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based fishing management plans;
  5. By 2020, conserve at least ten per cent of coastal and marine areas, con­sistent with national and international law and based on the best available scientific information;
  6. By 2020, prohibit harmful fisheries subsidies;
  7. By 2030, increase the economic benefits to island states and least deve­loped countries from the sustainable use of marine resources;
  8. Increase the transfer of scientific knowledge and technology and enhance the research capacity of small island states and developing countries;
  9. Provide access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets;
  10. Implement the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and its associated agreements in order to propagate conservation of the seas and sustain­able use of its resources.

For four of the targets, the deadline – the end of 2020 – has already passed, with no significant progress being reported. According to a recent UN interim report, the current efforts to protect the marine environment, and the small-scale fishers in particular, are by no means sufficient to conserve the fragile resource that is the ocean. A first interim assessment was to be made at the second UN Ocean Conference, but this was postponed from June 2020 to the summer of 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
United Nations analysts say that the pandemic has demonstrated what it means to live on a planet where nature and the climate are out of balance. It can only be hoped that this experience will further motivate the international community to work together and with resolve towards the realization of the 2030 Agenda. Less than ten years remain.