2022 UN Ocean Conference: What you need to know

The ocean generates 50 per cent of oxygen that fuels people and other living organisms daily, according to the United Nations (U.N.)

It absorbs 25 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions and even captures 90 per cent of heat generated from those emissions.

The world needs it to function, and human beings need it to survive. It is often considered as the lungs of the planet and largest carbon sink.

Because of climate change, the ocean must be protected from all forms of harm.

The ocean is facing unprecedented threats as a result of human activities.

The U.N. Ocean Conference is one of the largest hubs to talk about ‘what is left to save’.

This second conference will be co-hosted by the Governments of Kenya and Portugal. It will be held in Lisbon, Portugal from June 27 to July 1.

Interestingly, the ocean nurtures unimaginable biodiversity and produces food, jobs, mineral and energy resources needed for life on the planet to survive and thrive.

The conference will seek to address the many of the deeprooted problems of societies brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It will require major structural transformations and common shared solutions, prompted by the Sustainable Development Goals.

In mobilising the action, the conference will seek much needed science-based innovative solutions aimed at starting a new chapter of global ocean action.

The U.N. finds that people still do not know about the ocean but there are many reasons why we need to manage it sustainably - as set out in the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water.

FIJI

Fiji will be part of this conference in Portugal.

Prime Minister Voreqe aims to make sure that Fijian voices are heard.

“Fijians are ocean leaders, we have been from the day we conquered the seas to make these islands our home,” he said in a video statement.

Mr Bainimarama said over one million square kilometres of the blue Pacific were under Fiji’s care.

“No nations come under the ocean than Fiji and other Pacific islands,” he adds.

“As a large ocean’s state, there is no excuse for others to talk about us rather than with us.

“No nations come under the ocean than Fiji and other Pacific islands.”

More information about the conference can be found here: https://www.un.org/en/conferences/ocean2022