G7 leaders mock Putin with jokes about ‘stripping’
The five-day United Nations Ocean Conference – delayed from April 2020 by the pandemic – starts today in Lisbon and brings together governments of the world, scientists and NGOS in search of solutions to heal the oceans made sick by climate change, pollution and overfishing. A look at the challenges the conference looks to address
Agence France-presse
ELMAU CASTLE (GERMANY): World leaders mocked Russian President Vladimir Putin’s tough-man image at a G7 lunch in Germany on Sunday, joking about whether they should strip down to shirtsleeves – or even less.
“Jackets on? Jackets off? Do we take our coats off?” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked as he sat down at the table in Bavaria’s picturesque Elmau Castle, where Chancellor Olaf Scholz was hosting the summit of seven powerful democracies.
The leaders – from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the European Union – pondered the dilemma.
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, suggested they wait for the official picture before disrobing but then Johnson quipped “We have to show that we’re tougher than Putin” and the joke kept rolling.
“We’re going to get the barechested horseback riding display,” Trudeau said, referring to Putin’s infamous 2009 photo-op of himself riding shirtless on a horse.
“Horseback riding is the best,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, without apparently weighing in on the clothing issue itself.
Johnson interjected: “We’ve got to show them our pecs.”
The leaders posed – jackets on – for photos before reporters were hustled out of the room, leaving the sartorial debate behind closed doors.
The Russian president, meanwhile, is scheduled to visit two small former Soviet states in central Asia this week, Russian state television reported on Sunday, in what would be the Russian leader’s first known trip abroad since ordering the invasion of Ukraine.
Ocean water made acidic by CO along with marine heatwaves lasting months are killing coral reefs that support a quarter of marine life. "We have only begun to understand the extent to which climate change is going to wreak havoc on ocean health," said Charlotte de Fontaubert, World Bank's global lead for the blue economy.
The conference may report trend lines for wild fisheries and seafood farming for the first time, with each producing about 100 million tons per year. "At least one-third of wild fish stocks are overfished and less than 10% of the ocean is protected," Kathryn Matthews, chief scientist for Us-based NGO Oceana, told AFP. "Destructive and illegal fishing vessels operate with impunity in many coastal waters and on the high seas." in subsidies that aggravate overfishing will fall under a harsh spotlight in Lisbon
of the carbon dioxide produced by humans is absorbed by it people live in low-lying coastal zones, a number that is expected to rise to one billion by 2050, according to UN estimates