COLLECTIVE VOICE BETTER TO BRING OCEAN ISSUES FORWARD

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BY GEORGINA KEKEA

A collective voice is better in bringing important issues in the pacific to light, senior lecturer in the University of the South Pacific (USP), Dr. Stuart Kininmonth says.

Recently the United Nations has made a proclamation on the ‘Decade of Ocean for sustainable development’ in which member countries will be obliged to fulfill the objectives of this initiative.

From this, the Pacific Community (SPC) held a workshop that brought leaders, champions and key stakeholders to discuss issues on the UN Decade of Ocean Science from the 23rd to 25th July 2019.

Dr. Kinonmonth, a marine scientist who was at the workshop says though the Decade might not mean anything to some people, it is a very important platform to gather voices from different stakeholders in the Pacific region. 

He says people from the Pacific are united through the one ocean thus this collective voice is important to address and identify ocean issues faced by the pacific people. 

“All working together with a much more defined common goal, that itself is very powerful. Politicians got to be very tough if they have to stand up and argue against something which several thousand people around the world come together and agree on it, Dr. Kininmonth says.

He says as someone from the University group, he is also quite pleased to see Pacific islanders taking a keen interest in the Fisheries sector, more-so in pursuing studies in this area at the University. 

Kininmonth says though people in the Pacific might not feel the repercussions of a declining ocean as yet, at the current rate in which marine life and the ocean is being destroyed, it will not be long before people will suffer from the consequences.

“It is good to raise the awareness of the oceans but it doesn’t help a lot because people will want to raise their own issues. But the big promise that it does is that it promises to form a more collaborative framework for a whole range of people to work on the ocean”, Kininmonth says of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021 – 2030 presents an opportunity for countries to deliver scientific knowledge and adopt technological innovation to build capacity to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Agenda is anticipated to reverse the decline of the ocean health.

 ENDS////


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