Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama is calling on Pacific leaders to lobby and bring together 100 nations by 2025 to agree to integrated management of their whole Exclusive Economic Zones which would be determined by a set of guidelines and targets.
Bainimarama says they need to turn those friendships into commitments that will aggressively protect our vital ocean ecosystem before irreversible damage is done.
He says they have come together to build on the momentum of our ocean-focused negotiations and pull together a group of forward-facing nations that are committed to achieving 100% integrated ocean management of our exclusive economic zones.
Bainimarama stated that Fiji has already committed to the 2030 target of 100% sustainable management of the EEZ, with at least 30 % to be declared Marine Protected Areas and officially challenge others to follow their lead.
He says a 100% EEZ strategy can provide a regulated and managed ocean buffer between growing coastal populations and the high seas by limiting pollution, controlling fisheries markets, increasing fish-stock, protecting biodiversity, rebuilding ecosystems, and monitoring shipping, among other benefits.
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