UN / OCEAN PRESSER

On the first day of the high-level United Nations Ocean Conference, General Assembly President Peter Thomson said the task is “to get humanity getting together and giving the support needed to turn around that cycle of decline into which we have put the ocean.” UNIFEED

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:11
• Production Date: 5 June 2017
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: PETER THOMSON
• Corporate Name: GENERAL ASSEMBLY
• Subject Topical: ENVIRONMENT; OCEANS; SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
• MAMS Id: 1900754
• Parent Id: 1900754
• Alternate Title: unifeed170605d

Description

STORY: UN / OCEAN PRESSER
TRT: 02:11
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: UNIFEED
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 05 JUNE 2017, NEW YORK CITY

Shotlist

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

05 JUNE 2017, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, GA President Peter Thomson walks up to podium
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Thomson, President of the General Assembly, United Nations:
“Our task here at the conference is to support the implementation of SDG 14, to make sure that our oceans goal is getting the support it needs going forward. And when I say support it’s not the usual bleat about financing. I am talking about all of us, all of humanity, civil society, governments, UN system, private sector, scientific community, all getting together and giving the support needed to turn around that cycle of decline into which we have put the ocean.”
4. Wide shot, Isabella Lövin walks up to podium
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Isabella Lövin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate, Sweden:
“This is the first time the global community has come together after last week when we had the, I would say, very regrettable decision from the United States to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. And I think the linkage between the effects of climate change to healthy, or the threat to our oceans is more than clear to all of us here, that have gathered here at the UN. And one of the sub-targets for the SDG 14 is actually reducing the impacts of climate change on our oceans. And climate change is really taking a real harsh toll on our oceans.”
6. Wide shot, Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama walks up to podium
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji:
“For centuries it was our only highway to other lands. So, we feel the ocean deep within us. But it is no less important is some way to everyone on earth, even people who live thousands of kilometres from the nearest ocean and have never known the wonderful smell of the sea. The Ocean conference that begins today’s been a long time coming. Every human induced problem will require commitment by human beings to correct it. We are stewards of our earth and our oceans and this is our moral duty to ourselves and future generations.”
8. Wide shot, participants walk away

Storyline

On the first day of the high-level United Nations Ocean Conference, General Assembly President Peter Thomson said the task is “to get humanity getting together and giving the support needed to turn around that cycle of decline into which we have put the ocean.”

Thomson stressed that by support, he did not just mean “the usual bleat about financing” but involvement from all actors including civil society, governments, UN system, private sector, and scientific community.

During the same press encounter, one of the co-chairs of the conference, the Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate of Sweden, Isabella Lövin, noted this was “the first time the global community has come together after last week when we had the, I would say, very regrettable decision from the United States to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.”

Lövin said the linkage between climate change and the threat to oceans “is more than clear to all of us here that have gathered here at the UN.”

The other co-chair, Fiji’s Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama said “for centuries it was our only highway to other lands. So, we feel the ocean deep within us. But it is no less important is some way to everyone on earth, even people who live thousands of kilometres from the nearest ocean and have never known the wonderful smell of the sea. The Ocean conference that begins today’s been a long time coming. Every human induced problem will require commitment by human beings to correct it. We are stewards of our earth and our oceans and this is our moral duty to ourselves and future generations.”

The Conference, the first of its kind, aims to be the game changer that will reverse the decline in the health of our ocean for people, planet and prosperity.

Coinciding with World Oceans Day, it aims to identify ways and means to support the implementation of SDG 14.