Guterres Calls for More Collective Efforts to Protect Oceans

On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for more collective efforts to protect oceans.

In his message on World Ocean Day, UN Chief said: "The ocean is our planet’s greatest reservoir of biodiversity. Its resources sustain communities, prosperity and human health around the world."

He also explained that human-induced climate change is heating our planet, disrupting weather patterns and ocean currents, and altering marine ecosystems and the species living there.

In this context, Gutress warned that marine biodiversity is under attack from overfishing, over-exploitation and ocean acidification, noting that one-third of fish stocks are being harvested at unsustainable levels.

"We are polluting our coastal waters with chemicals, plastics and human waste. But this year’s World Oceans Day reminds us that the tides are changing, said the UN Chief.

He also recounted that the world agreed to push for more positive ocean action at the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon.

"Last year, we adopted an ambitious global target to conserve and manage 30 percent of land and marine and coastal areas by 2030, as well as a landmark agreement on fisheries subsidies."

"A global, legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution is under negotiation. Sustainable Development Goal 14 — to conserve and sustainably use the ocean’s resources — hangs in the balance. This World Oceans Day, let’s keep pushing for action," he concluded.