Ocean conference in New York, USA from June 5-9, 2017 |30 May 2017
Seychelles to share success stories with the rest of the world
Stakeholders recently met in a preparatory forum to discuss the latest ocean-related issues and finalise documents necessary to better present Seychelles’ case or position at the forthcoming ocean conference.
The biggest ever conference on oceans organised by the United Nations will take place from June 5-9 in New York, United States of America.
Seychelles will be taking part in the conference with a high-level delegation made up of representatives from government, youth, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society and academia.
The preparatory forum held at the Savoy Resort & Spa was attended by representatives of the fisheries and blue economy sectors as well as people concerned with the sustainable development and protection of our ocean and marine resources.
It was officially launched by environment principal secretary Alain Decommarmond.
The high-level UN conference aims to support the realisation of sustainable development goal (SDG) 14 better known as the Oceans SDG and it comprises 20 targets which range from reducing marine pollutions, establishing marine protected areas to sustainable fishing.
Shedding light on the conference, PS Decommarmond said “today, we are presenting the negotiation text that all countries have been negotiating since the beginning of this year and the negotiation is ongoing.”
“Part of this forum today is to present that text to all stakeholders and get their views and comments on it. Then we can bring it forward. A next round of negotiations will take place at the end of the month to again get more inputs from them. Then there are the commitments where the conference has asked all countries and organisations involved with the ocean to make commitments for the future. What they intend to do in relation to oceans, if they have programmes being implemented, to mention if they want to commit certain resources where all these will be compiled,” explained Mr Decommarmond.
Mr Decommarmond said there will also be dialogues, seven in all, on different topics in parallel to the conference in which the Seychelles delegation will also take part in. He added that they hope to gain stakeholders’ views on those topics.
This, he said, is an interactive and informative forum where it is hoped will further advance SDG14 and most importantly bring together all relevant stakeholders ‒ governments, UN systems, NGOs, international financial institutions, civil society bodies, academic institutions, the private sector ‒ to assess the challenges and opportunities as well as actions to be taken in relation to the goal.
“We plan to get the inputs of all concerned at national level so that we put together a strong case on ocean preservation issues for Seychelles to present to the conference ,” he said.
The Seychelles delegation will also take part in side events during the conference and Mr Decommarmond explained that “Seychelles, one of the small island states which is very active in ocean conservation, has been approached by various partners to tell the world what we are doing in relation to ocean conservation, like ocean exploitation in a sustainable way.”
“Each delegation member will have a role to play in those side events. So the comments, views and contributions collected today will assist us as a delegation to negotiate and participate in those dialogues,” he said.
As for people who want to contribute through voluntary engagement and ideas, they can do so through the conference website www.oceanconference.un.org
