Morocco was elected vice-chairman of the United Nations Oceans Conference convening in New York to look into ways of conserving and sustainably using oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
The North African Kingdom was unanimously elected by the 193 members of the United Nations vice-chairman of this high-level UN Conference to support the implementation of sustainable development goals.
The Conference, to close doors June 9, features plenary meetings, partnership dialogues and a special event commemorating World Oceans Day.
The gathering will adopt by consensus a concise, focused, intergovernmentally agreed declaration in the form of a “Call for Action” to support the implementation of Goal 14 and a report containing the co-chairs’ summaries of the partnership dialogues.
Addressing the conference, UNSG António Guterres said the problems of the ocean, all created by human activity, can all be reversed and prevented with decisive, coordinated action.
“Oceans are a testing ground for the principle of multilateralism. The health of our oceans and seas requires us to put aside short-term national gain, to avoid long-term global catastrophe”, he added.
World leaders joined representatives from civil society, business, academia and science at the Ocean Conference, calling for accelerated action to reverse the deterioration of the ocean.
The opening of the Conference has been marked by a surge in the number of voluntary commitments to take action to improve the health of the ocean, with more than 700 commitments having been received.
