UN / SDGS OCEANS

The world must harness “clear, transformative and actionable solutions” to address the ocean crisis, the President of the UN General Assembly said, opening a meeting to generate momentum towards the 2022 UN Ocean Conference. UNIFEED

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:09
• Production Date: 1 June 2021
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: PETER THOMSON; VOLKAN BOZKIR
• Corporate Name: GENERAL ASSEMBLY
• Subject Topical: OCEANS; SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
• MAMS Id: 2623732
• Parent Id: 2623732
• Alternate Title: unifeed210601e

Description

STORY: UN / SDGS OCEANS
TRT: 02:09
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 01 JUNE 2021, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

RECENT – NEW YORK CITY

1. Aerial shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters

01 JUNE 2021, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir walks up to podium
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Volkan Bozkir, President, General Assembly:
“There is simply no scenario wherein we live on a planet without an ocean. Clear, transformative, and actionable solutions to address the ocean crisis must be found and must be scaled up. Simply speaking, our relationship with our planet’s ocean must change.”
4. Wide shot, Bozkir at the podium
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Volkan Bozkir, President, General Assembly:
“As the SDG 14 targets are some of the first to mature, it is time for us to think ahead, to ensure that we arrive at the 2nd Ocean Conference not with further delays, but with demonstrable evidence of progress. Let us not ‘kick the ball down the road’, as they say, and wait until the Conference to re-discuss these very same issues.”
6. Wide shot, General Assembly
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Thomson, Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Oceans:
“Compared with the indifferent waters through which we were sailing before SDG 14’s arrival, ocean action is now flourishing around the world. Progress is tangible in ocean conservancy and awareness of ocean issues. Marine protected area coverage is growing steadily, as is scientific knowledge of the ocean with the timely launch of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.”
8. Wide shot, General Assembly
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Thomson, Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Oceans:
“But truth be told, how can we claim anything near success, when a third of assessed global fish stocks are being overfished? When with no tangible end in sight, we have dumped around 150 million metric tons of accumulated plastic waste, micro-plastics, and discarded fishing gear into the ocean. And while the rates of ocean acidification, deoxygenation, and warming, are all continuing to head in the wrong direction.”
10. Wide shot, GA President at the dais

Storyline

The world must harness “clear, transformative and actionable solutions” to address the ocean crisis, the President of the UN General Assembly said today (1 Jun), opening a meeting to generate momentum towards the 2022 UN Ocean Conference.

Addressing a high-level thematic debate on the ocean and Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG14), GA President Volkan Bozkir said there is “simply no scenario” wherein we live on a planet without an ocean. Simply speaking, he said, “our relationship with our planet’s ocean must change.”

As the SDG14 targets will be among the first to mature, Bozkir encouraged everyone to “think ahead” and arrive at the second Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, with “demonstrable evidence of progress”.

Peter Thomson, Special Envoy on Oceans, emphasized the need to improve our relationship with the sea to one of respect and balance.

He underscored the importance of delivering on SDG14, saying, “compared with the indifferent waters through which we were sailing before SDG 14’s arrival, ocean action is now flourishing around the world. Progress is tangible in ocean conservancy and awareness of ocean issues. Marine protected area coverage is growing steadily, as is scientific knowledge of the ocean with the timely launch of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.”

“But truth be told,” he added, “how can we claim anything near success, when a third of assessed global fish stocks are being overfished? When with no tangible end in sight, we have dumped around 150 million metric tons of accumulated plastic waste, micro-plastics, and discarded fishing gear into the ocean. And while the rates of ocean acidification, deoxygenation, and warming, are all continuing to head in the wrong direction.”

The General Assembly also heard from Ricardo Serrão Santos, Minister of the Sea of Portugal, and Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Raychelle Omamo, as well as Maggie Q, Award winning Actress, SDG14 Advocate, activist, Founder of QEEP UP.