European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, US climate envoy John Kerry, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose country will host COP27 on climate in November, and Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo of Sousa, who will host a UN summit on the oceans in Lisbon at the end of June, are expected in Brest.
Other leaders will participate via video conference or video message, including UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Alassane Ouattara, president of Côte d’Ivoire.
“Stop the degradation of our seas”
This meeting is part of the “One Ocean” summit organized from Wednesday to Friday in the Breton port, as part of the French presidency of the European Union. Several international events are to be held between now and the end of the year, which could strengthen the protection of the oceans: a UN meeting on the environment at the end of February which will discuss the question of an international agreement on plastic, negotiations in March at the UN on a treaty for the high seas, biodiversity and climate COPs and the Lisbon conference.
France hopes that this summit will lead to a strong political impetus around several subjects: the launch of negotiations to reach an international treaty to combat plastic pollution, the development of marine protected areas, the outcome of discussions on a treaty international law on the high seas or the ratification of a treaty to improve the safety of fishing vessels.
For Peter Thomson, special envoy for the ocean of the United Nations, present in Brest, it is time to “turn on the finance tap to invest in a + blue + sustainable economy”.
Blue washing operation
NGOs, Greenpeace and Pleine Mer, who consider France, the world’s second maritime power, not very exemplary in terms of protecting the oceans, will demonstrate on Friday morning in Brest to denounce a “blue washing” operation.
France Nature Environnement (FNE) is concerned about France’s desire to explore the deep seabed rich in minerals, with the fear that this will lead to industrial exploitation, even marine protected areas that are not ambitious enough. With the “Seas at risk” coalition, she also submitted a petition on Thursday to denounce the “massacre of common dolphins” off the French coast, caught in fishing gear.