Maldives urges the need for a stand-alone Goal on Oceans in the Sustainable Development Goals. The support for an Oceans SDG was conveyed by His Excellency Mr. Ahmed Sareer, Permanent Representative of Maldives during his statement at the 8th Session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals.
Ambassador Sareer outlined the contributions that sustainable fisheries make worldwide, to poverty eradication, the provision of decent work, food security, healthy nutrition and sustainable development overall. He further explained that an ocean-based economy will contribute to sustained economic growth through the reformation of existing and expansion of new economic activities.
He said that Maldives is concerned by the multitude of threats that endanger the marine environment and the livelihoods connected to it, such as overfishing, climate change, ocean acidification and transboundary pollution. Ambassador Sareer highlighted that these were shared threats and that they can be only addressed multilaterally. He further pointed out that many developing countries do not retain the big share of the benefits of their ocean territories and that it should be a goal of an Ocean SDG to empower these countries to reap the benefits and profit from their oceans.
Ambassador Sareer concluded that a sustainable development goal on Oceans is ideally suited to capture the vital contributions of Oceans to all three pillars of Sustainable Development. He elaborated that it should aim to maximize the economic value of ocean economies and make sure that no synergies are lost in achieving poverty eradication, food security and decent work for all. He went on to stress that it is necessary to ensure that these contributions are long-term, by removing the biggest stresses that threaten the Ocean, namely marine pollution and debris, overfishing, and climate change. An Ocean SDG must, among other things, ensure that all countries have the means, including capacity and technology, to effectively implement and monitor the necessary measures.
