Opening Remarks
the 2022 World Ocean Week in Xiamen
Excellencies,
Distinguished Participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to address you at the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Xiamen World Ocean Week.
I thank the Ministry of Natural Resources of China, Xiamen Municipal People’s Government and Xiamen University for hosting this timely event.
This year’s Xiamen World Ocean Week coincides with the UNFCCC COP27, currently taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt where parties to the UNFCCC have recognized the importance of protecting the ocean and its ecosystems in the Convention and Paris Agreement.
Ocean sits at the nexus of addressing the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.
Ocean is home to millions of species. It regulates the climate, acts as a carbon sink, and absorbs 90 per cent excessive heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions.
Ocean also holds the key to bringing sustainability and prosperity together.
Off-shore renewable energy, green shipping, marine aquaculture and other sustainable blue economy sectors offer immense opportunities for economic growth and employment, while making net-zero carbon and resilient economies possible.
In this connection, I wish to commend Xiamen for its achievement in transforming polluted waterfront into a model for ecological and economic success, through cycles of integrated coastal management.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The 2022 UN Ocean Conference held in Lisbon this summer was a reality check for the world.
We are facing, as Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it, an “Ocean Emergency”.
Fortunately, the tide is starting to turn. The Conference spurred governments, UN system partners, private sector actors, civil society and other stakeholders to recommit themselves to ending pollution and overfishing, and to slowing and reversing the ocean acidification and deoxygenation caused by climate change.
We must keep scaling up ocean actions based on science and innovation and invest in implementation of SDG 14.
And we must maximize synergies and involve all stakeholders, through broad coalition and partnerships.
Ocean health is the responsibility of each and every one of us.
I wish you a fruitful discussion in the week ahead.
Thank you.
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