NEW YORK, NY, (February 23, 2023) – Greenpeace activists from offices around the world led an art occupation today outside the United Nations, where countries are meeting for what many hope will be the final round of negotiations to secure a Global Ocean Treaty. The event featured large movable sculptures of ocean animals made from plastic found on New York City beaches and intricate seascapes drawn in chalk. The art reflected the beauty of the oceans and the threats they face. Leaders from communities impacted by the ocean crisis joined to remind delegates that the world is watching and they must deliver a strong Treaty.
Arlo Hemphill, Greenpeace USA’s senior oceans campaigner, said: “We need the oceans. They are essential to life on this planet. But human activity has created a state of biodiversity decline and climate change that threatens not only the health of the ocean and the creatures that live there, but also the lives and livelihoods of the billions of people who depend on a healthy ocean for their income and sustenance, and the very life on our planet. We are in an ocean, climate, and biodiversity crisis, and we must change course now.”
Hemphill continued: “Scientists have made it clear that if we want to avert a global disaster, we must protect at least 30 percent of the oceans by 2030. This past December in Montreal, all world governments agreed on the 30×30 goal. We now need to move with urgency from talk to action. This new treaty is essential to delivering on this goal at a global scale, and we ask these governments not to fail us in these negotiations.”
Leaders from the front lines of the ocean crisis talked about how it has hurt their communities and asked the delegates to keep them in mind as they negotiate over the next few days.
Anta Diouf, a coastal community leader in Senegal, said: “We exist because of the ocean. We feed ourselves thanks to the ocean. We subsist thanks to the ocean. Today we have an historic opportunity to give hope to billions of people. A strong global ocean treaty would help ensure food sovereignty and livelihoods for those who depend on the ocean. Protecting the oceans is protecting life.”
Negotiations for a Global Ocean Treaty resumed on February 20. Despite the promise of more than 50 countries from the High Ambition Coalition to deliver a treaty at the last round of negotiations in August, talks collapsed because countries from the Global North refused to compromise on key issues such as the financing and monetary benefit sharing provisions of the Treaty until the final days of talks.
The Greenpeace network is calling for a Treaty that can establish fully and highly protected ocean sanctuaries across the high seas, free from activities like destructive fishing, deep sea mining and other extractive activities. The Conference of the Parties (COP) created by the Treaty must be able to take decisions on all potentially damaging activities, including fishing inside protected areas, without deferring to dysfunctional sectoral bodies that have failed to take such action to date. The COP must also be able to operate by majority vote, not relying on consensus, to avoid single countries stalling or blocking progress.
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Contact: Tanya Brooks, Senior Communications Specialist at Greenpeace USA
(+1) 703-342-9226, [email protected]
Greenpeace USA is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country’s unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first. Learn more at www.greenpeace.org/usa
