Oceans, seas and marine resources

Worldwide Shipping Could Jeopardise Climate Goals

By Sean Buchanan

LONDON (IDN) – Worldwide, shipping contributes an estimated 2.5 percent of global emissions, but left unchecked this could grow to 17 percent by 2050, warns Transparency International – an international non-governmental organisation based in Berlin.

Failure to dramatically reduce the sector’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, says the NGO, will jeopardise the pledges signed by 195 states in the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit planetary warming to “well below” 2°C, and ideally to no more than 1.5°C.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 08 July 2018

Photo: Whether adding a constant background din or sudden bursts of explosive noise, this pervasive form of pollution is taking its toll on marine animals. Source: CMS.

Underwater Noise – The Not-so-Silent Killer

By Bradnee Chambers

Marine experts gathered at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from June 18-22, 2018 to discuss anthropogenic underwater noise. Dr. Bradnee Chambers, Executive Secretary of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), describes the impacts of this type of pollution on marine wildlife and sets out some of the solutions.

BONN (IDN) – Humanity's achievements are incredible – the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Wall of China, literature, music, telecommunications, medicine and a few decades after the first powered flight, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.

: Dr. Bradnee Chambers; OPINION; 22 June 2018

Photo: India's top beach destination Goa commits to #BeatPlasticPollution. Credit: World Environment Day.

Grassroots India Beginning To Beat Plastic Pollution

By Sudha Ramachandran

BANGALORE (IDN) – A 32-year-old Rajeswari Singh launched on a six-week marathon mission on World Earth Day setting out to walk some 1,100 kilometres from Vadodara in western India to reach New Delhi on World Environment Day on June 5, spreading a simple message 'Stop using plastic', and accentuating it by forgoing all the way any kind of plastic packaged drinks or food.

In fact, she hasn’t used any kind of plastic over the past decade. Besides, her message echoes the theme of this year's World Environment Day – 'Beat plastic pollution' – with India, among the world’s top ten consumers of plastic, playing global host.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 01 June 2018

ACP Group Joins with OCTs to Fight Illegal Fishing and Other Threats to Life Below Water

By Dr Patrick I. Gomes, ACP Secretary-General

The following is a slightly modified version of remarks by the ACP Secretary General to the High-Level Forum of Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) and the European Union in Brussels on 23 February 2018 on 'Engaging the OCTs and SDGs and the Post-Cotonou Process'. – The Editor

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Together the ACP Group of States and the European Union constitute a unique partnership grounded in the task of making lives of all humanity meaningful, secure, peaceful and prosperous.

It is for this reason that my remarks wish to express a commitment of the ACP Group of States to build on and strengthen the provisions in the Cotonou Agreement for relations of the ACP with OCTs.