Analysis | China, US have chance to find common ground in protection of oceans

Name: World leaders pledge to cut greenhouse emissions at virtual Earth Day summit
Uploaded: 2021-05-01T06:00:27.000Z
Duration: 3 min 27 s
Description: World leaders pledge to cut greenhouse emissions at virtual Earth Day summit

Delayed UN meeting to discuss conservation goals including protecting the seas and ending fishing subsidies – but some countries have resisted

Calls for urgency with Antarctica warming and indications that fishing fleets trawling the seabed release as much carbon as the aviation industry

Reading Time:4 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

There is disagreement is over whether China, which is responsible for the most fishing subsidies, should be exempt from restrictions on them amid efforts to protect the seas. Photo: Xinhua

Linda Lew

Published: 2:00pm, 1 May 2021Updated: 10:58am, 3 May 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic derailed many events in 2020, including the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity.

The meeting is rescheduled for October in Kunming, China, offering an opportunity for Beijing and Washington – rivals on nearly all fronts – to agree tangible climate change goals, with ocean conservation high on the agenda.

“An integrated approach must be taken to guarantee that action is taken to employ the essential tools needed to reverse biodiversity loss and its impact on ecosystems, species and people,” the UN body’s website said when announcing the meeting.

03:27

World leaders pledge to cut greenhouse emissions at virtual Earth Day summit

Establishing global conservation plans to protect at least 30 per cent of world’s land and seas over the next 10 years is one key goal of the meeting. With the leaders of both China and the US making public commitments on climate and environment initiatives, conservationists have hopes that 2021 could see substantial progress in ocean protection.

This call to action has a new urgency with regard to the seas because Antarctica is estimated to be one of the fastest-warming areas on the planet, and a study in March indicated carbon released from the seabed by bottom-trawling fishing fleets was on a par with that from fossil fuels burned by the global aviation industry.

Other conservation initiatives up for discussion this year include setting three new marine protected areas (MPAs) in Antarctica, ending harmful fishing subsidies through the World Trade Organization (WTO), and agreeing a new UN high seas treaty.

Leadership?

“Designation of Southern Ocean MPAs would show international leadership by China on biodiversity, climate action and multilateralism,” said Nicole Bransome, a marine ecologist working with the US non-governmental organisation Pew Charitable Trust.