BREMERHAVEN, 16 July 2013 – The Antarctic Ocean Alliance (AOA), an NGO coalition including Greenpeace, today called the Russian delegation’s blocking of proposals for the two largest ocean sanctuaries in the world in pristine Antarctic waters, “the loss of an extraordinary opportunity to protect the global marine environment for future generations.”[1] This week’s special meeting of the 25 Members of the Commission for the Conservation on Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR)[2] concluded today in Bremerhaven with no results.
All of the CCAMLR Member states, including those that had concerns about the two proposals, took part in negotiations that could have achieved a result at the CCAMLR meeting, however, the Russian delegation, with support from the Ukraine, raised legal issues as to whether CCAMLR has the authority to establish marine protected areas (MPAs).[3]
"All of the world's oceans – including those around Antarctica – are under increasing pressure that makes the protection of near pristine areas such as the Ross Sea and East Antarctica ever more urgent,” said Richard Page, Greenpeace Oceans campaigner. “Considerable effort and some rigorous scientific work have been put in by many commission members to get this far. The Russian delegation must now work in good faith and make sure the proposals go forward at the next meeting to ensure a lasting legacy for future generations."
The two proposals CCAMLR failed to pass were a joint US-New Zealand proposal to designate a Ross Sea MPA of 2.3 million square kilometres, including a "fully protected" area of 1.6 million square kilometres; and a proposal from Australia, France and the European Union that would designate a cluster of seven marine protected areas in East Antarctica, covering about 1.63 million square kilometres.
More than 1.3 million people around the world have joined the global call for Antarctic marine protection with thousands taking action through online petitions and emails from around the world.
The Southern Ocean is critical for scientific research, both for studying how intact marine ecosystems function and for determining the impacts of global climate change.
The Antarctic Ocean Alliance partners will attend the next CCAMLR meeting in Hobart, in October this year to press CCAMLR to deliver on its conservation commitments and to extend Southern Ocean protection to these and other important habitats. The AOA has identified over 40% of the Southern Ocean in 19 habitats that warrant protection in a network of large-scale MPAs and no-take marine reserves based on combining existing marine protected areas, areas identified within previous conservation and planning analyses and including additional key environmental habitats.
ENDS
Notes
1. Quote from Steve Campbell, AOA.
2. CCAMLR Members includes 24 countries and the European Union.
3. CCAMLR established its first high-seas MPA around the South Orkney Islands in 2009.
Contact:
Stefano Gelmini, Greenpeace UK +44 7506 512 442
Richard Page, Greenpeace: richard.page@greenpeace.org, +44 7801212966
Information: www.antarcticocean.org,
About: The Antarctic Ocean Alliance is a coalition of high-profile individuals such as actor Leonardo DiCaprio, actor and UN Biodiversity Ambassador Edward Norton, Oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle and entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson as well as 30 leading environmental groups. These include The Pew Charitable Trusts, Greenpeace, WWF, Humane Society International, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), the Blue Marine Foundation (UK), Mission Blue (US), Oceans 5 (US), Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), Deepwave (Germany), The Last Ocean, the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM), Greenovation Hub (China), Forest & Bird (NZ), ECO (NZ), and associate partners the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Oceana, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and Ocean Planet (Australia).
