Debate: Establishment of Antarctic Marine Protected Areas  and the conservation of Southern Ocean biodiversity
Date: WEDNESDAY, 7 JULY 2021
Speaker: Virginijus Sinkevičius
Language: EN

Over the past 30 years, Antarctica has warmed by 1.8°C, which is three times more than the global average and, only last week, the United Nations recognised a new record high temperature for the Antarctic, confirming a reading of 18.3°C reported last year. As for the West Antarctic Peninsula, this is one of the fastest warming areas on Earth, where record temperatures above 20°C were recorded during the summer of 2019—2020.  Climate change is already having profound and potentially irreversible impacts on the Southern Ocean. Retreating glaciers, ice-sheet instability, sea-level rise and ocean acidification are just some of the changes we are seeing. These impacts are real and they are accelerating. This is particularly alarming because the Southern Ocean plays a major role in regulating the global climate system. Climate change is also one of the major drivers of the second global crisis, that of the loss of biodiversity. The Southern Ocean is home to a rich range of marine life, including different species of penguins, seals, whales and seabirds. The rapid warming of the Southern Ocean is leading to a habitat loss, as well as to changes in the range of marine species and their interactions. These changes affect every level of the marine food chain in the Antarctic. But habitat loss is not only dangerous for marine species. It can also increase the risk of global pandemics, as the COVID-19 pandemic has painfully shown. It is the responsibility of the entire international community to address this dual crisis of biodiversity loss and climate change.  The European Union, as a member of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), has a particular responsibility to conserve and protect the biodiversity of the Southern Ocean. We know that large-scale marine protected areas (MPAs) can help conserve marine biodiversity, maintain ecosystems, absorb large amounts of global carbon emissions and build ocean resilience against the impacts of climate change. That is the reason why the international community has agreed to a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal, under which we should conserve at least 10% of coastal and marine areas through marine protected areas by 2020.  Currently, marine protected areas only cover 7.6% of seas and oceans globally. The European Union advocates the more ambitious target of protecting at least 30% of the world’s seas, as called for by science. This is the EU position within the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People as a major element of the global biodiversity framework to be adopted at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. New marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean would importantly contribute towards achieving this goal.  To that effect, the EU and its Member States have proposed to establish two new large-scale marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean, one in East Antarctica and another in the Weddell Sea. If approved, they would make an essential contribution to achieving a representative system of Antarctic marine protected areas by protecting an area of over 3 million km2. The designation of these new protected areas is a key deliverable of the EU’s biodiversity strategy for 2030 and a key priority for this Commission. There is also a third proposal from Argentina and Chile to create a marine protected area in the Antarctic Peninsula, which would cover around 0.65 million km2. Together, the three proposals would protect as much as around one percent of the world’s oceans. This would constitute a historic act of environmental protection.  Unfortunately, as you know, China and Russia continue to block the adoption of our proposals over various concerns. In view of these disappointing positions, I am even more encouraged by the support I received from the European Parliament in the resolution discussed today. I want to thank all of those who have helped to prepare the resolution that this House will adopt tomorrow and to include tonight’s important debate on the agenda of this plenary session, and in particular, Catherine Chabaud and Grace O’Sullivan. Your support is extremely important. Your voice will send a powerful signal to the world about the EU’s determination to have these marine protected areas designated in the Southern Ocean, and your resolution will also help raise awareness of this crucial topic. Turning to the Council, I also want to take this opportunity to thank the EU Member States for their unwavering support. Without their continuous and unanimous backing, we would not have come this far. You can count on the Commission’s, and my personal, full commitment to push for the adoption of these proposals by CCAMLR. There is no time to lose and I have been focusing on broadening support among CCAMLR membership for our proposals. I’m happy to see that this strategy is already bearing fruit. At the ministerial meeting that I hosted on 28 April, the USA and New Zealand announced their decision to join as core proponents of our two proposals. I intend to build on this success to convince even more CCAMLR members to join as co-sponsors. I have recently reached out to India, South Africa, South Korea, Brazil, Ukraine, Namibia, Argentina, Chile and Japan to that effect. In order to keep momentum and to take stock, I intend to organise a follow—up ministerial meeting on 29 September. I hope that, by then, we will have more co-sponsors for our proposals.  But we must also turn our focus to convincing Russia and China to support these proposals. After all, without their agreement, there will be no new marine protected areas. We will therefore continue to systematically raise our proposals with China and Russia at the highest possible level and on every occasion. I have invited our Member States and international partners to do the same. If we join forces and we speak with one voice, we will have a better chance of convincing others of our cause. We must also use all the opportunities offered by multilateral events and fora to further our agenda. I am particularly pleased with the strong support expressed in the recent G7 Leaders’ communiqué for the designation of marine protected areas in Antarctica. I hope that the upcoming G20 will be equally ambitious.  The Commission will also continue to play an active role in the negotiations on an ambitious, legally binding agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), where we are advocating for a clear global mechanism to identify, designate and effectively manage ecologically representative marine protected areas in the high seas. The BBNJ Treaty should be ratified and implemented as quickly as possible once the final discussions resume after the pandemic. I have already mentioned that the EU will be pushing for the adoption of an ambitious post—2020 global biodiversity framework at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming. We will also invite our international partners to join the global ‘30 by 30’ goal of protecting 30% planet’s lands and oceans by 2030. We will continue to lead international negotiations to increase the ambition of our major emitters ahead of the United Nations climate change COP in Glasgow this year.  Finally, I am hopeful that we will achieve progress at the 40th annual meeting of CCAMLR in October. We must keep up all efforts and continue to engage at all levels to drive forward the adoption of our MPAs proposal this year. What is at stake is too important.