A Tonga delegation, led by Acting Minister of Fisheries and Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Lord Fohe, joined over 600 representatives at the 8th Our Ocean Conference in Panama, to celebrate action and find sustainable solutions for a healthy ocean.
The two-day conference, started on 02 March fostered collaborative dialogue between heads of governments, private sector, civil society, and academic institutions to deliver concrete commitments protecting and restoring marine resources, promoting sustainable use, and educating the public about the ocean.
The Conference, themed, “Our Ocean, Our Connection,” focused on six broad areas of action, including: promoting marine protected areas, fostering a sustainable blue economy, tackling the climate crisis, supporting maritime security, advancing sustainable fisheries, and combating marine pollution.
At the margin of the Conference, Lord Fohe joined high-level speakers at the Blue Prosperity reception,among them, Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, Minister of Tourism from Panama Ivan Eskildsen, and Special Envoy for Climate Change from Vanuatu, Bakoa Kaltonga.
Lord Fohe highlighted that the Pacific is an oceanic region with two percent land mass and 98 percent water with the largest and deepest ocean basin on Earth.
Minister Lord Fohe explained: “It is critical we understand the connection between ecosystems from the Highlands to the High Seas which underpin security and livelihoods.”
“Our islands are highly vulnerable to extreme weather events, and nature-positive approaches is the way forward to effectively addressing the triple planetary crisis of pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change, and the nexus with the ocean,” he continued.
“Understanding ecological impacts strengthens our resilience and sustains valuable ecosystem services allowing us to explore real options for investments in blue and green growth. It will allow us to evaluate trade-offs and identify co-benefits with adaptation and mitigation measures,” he said.
The Minister highlighted that the Government of Tonga recognises that nature is the foundation of life, underpinning human security, well-being, and sustainable development.
Some of the key factors threatening ocean biodiversity and community livelihoods:
• Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing
• Marine pollution and Deep Sea Mining
• Coastal overharvesting of resources
• Lack of an appropriate knowledge-base and related-capacities for real-time decision-making
To alleviate these pressures and achieve sustainable benefits, the Government of Tonga:
• has committed 30% no-take marine areas, and 100 percent marine areas under management consistent with IUCN’s Protected Area Categories and SDG 14 through its national marine spatial plan and planning process;
• has established 64 Special Management Areas
• Continues to engage at the International Seabed Authority to ensure robust evidence-based fully-informed, and legally sound governance of all activities in the Area;
• Engaged in the just concluded legally binding treaty to govern the sustainable use and conservation of our marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdictions;
• Are also taking a nexus approach, understanding regime interaction and harmonization of local to global governance frameworks and their implications that will allow us to – do more,
with less.
Moving forward, the Government of Tonga continues to call upon the global community to support:
• The ongoing implementation of the Agreement on Ports State Measures to combat IUU fishing;
• Integrated and climate-smart Land and Marine Spatial Plans, Compliance and its Implementation;
• Blue Economy, Blue Food Systems and sustainable value chains;
• Combating Marine pollution
• Mainstreaming a Highlands to High Seas approach into policies and action plans for improved cohesion, cooperation, coordination and collaboration;
• Strengthening cooperation, partnerships for sustainable outcomes.
This story was originally published at Tonga Govt on 06 March 2023, reposted via PACNEWS.
