Download Suva, 8 June 2017 Honourable Acting Prime Minister, Attorney

Suva, 8 June
2017
Honourable Acting Prime Minister, Attorney-General and Minister for
Economy, Public Enterprises, Civil Service and Communications, Mr. Aiyaz
Sayed-Khaiyum,
Deputy Vice-Chancellor USP, Mr. Derrick Armstrong,
Members of the diplomatic corps,
Lecturers, Students,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I would like, first, to express my gratitude to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of
USP for hosting and jointly organizing this conference with the Embassy of
France and my thanks to the government of Fiji for their support.
The Ocean, the theme which is gathering us during these two days at the
occasion of the World Ocean Day 2017, is crucial for Humankind. Source of life
on earth, the oceans represent 96 per cent of the biosphere, 26 per cent of the
absorbed carbon dioxide and half of the oxygen produced for Life.
Yet, for too many years, the oceans have been instead and unfortunately
becoming a global garbage bin. Tomorrow, here at the conference, researchers
will explain to us how the ocean is losing its biomass, how it is getting warmer
and more acidic; how marine life is being threatened and so on. Still, there is
hope because there is some good news too: we know that the ocean has the
ability to regenerate and most importantly, the international community has
decided to adopt a sustainable development plan to protect and conserve the
oceans, seas and marine resources.
This is why it is important to stand strongly alongside the United Nations and to
fully support Fiji as the co-Chair of this conference aiming at implementing
urgently the SDG 14 – As you know the UN High-Level Conference on Oceans
is taking place right now in New York. We all need to be responsible and to act
in order to save and protect the ocean which sustains the whole planet.
France has a very large maritime territory of 11 million square kilometers on the
planet, which makes all issues related to the protection and sustainable use of the
oceans a real concern to us. France, anxious to preserve the marine biodiversity
and the well-being of the communities that are dependent on it, has long pursued
an ambitious policy through the promotion of marine protected areas: the
objective of protecting 10% of its territorial waters was exceeded by 22% in
2017, which represents 2.3 million km2, thanks in particular to the creation in
2016 of the natural marine park of “Cap Corse and Agriate”, the creation of the
Marine Protected Area of the French Clipperton Atoll (near Mexico), and the
extension of the French Southern Austral Territories natural reserve.
France wants to mobilize this expertise more and more, beyond its national
territory and its overseas territories, in support of the small island developing
States, with which it maintains friendly bonds and shows solidarity. France is
aware of their particular vulnerability to the effects of climate change and of the
important role as laboratory of innovation they can play, through adapted
solutions for sustainable development.
And that brings to my mind the principle of solidarity, which is dear to our new
Ministre d’Etat, Minister for Ecological and Inclusive Transition, Mr. Nicolas
Hulot who recently met with the Prime Minister Bainimarama in Berlin:
solidarity is a must with small island states and with LDCs or developing
countries.
Coral reefs are a striking example of the highly endangered ecosystems, the
socio-economic value of which is fundamental to island communities and to
least developed countries. France has been involved in the International Coral
Reef Initiative (ICRI) which adopted an ambitious action plan (2016-2018) that
France is financially contributing 500.000 euros, Sweden 300.000 euros and
Monaco 150.000 euros. This plan will be partly implemented by the United
Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
As present chair of ICRI, France has submitted a draft recommendation, adopted
by the member countries and aimed at fighting the use of plastic microbeads.
France, which has also joined the international "plastics" coalition and is
financially backing UNEP on this issue, is calling on all countries to join the
coalition.
France, in all its components, institutions, citizens, scientists, artists, bears a
strong legitimacy and, at the same time, a great responsibility for the
implementation of the 2030 agenda on the ocean and marine and coastal areas
resources.
This is why France, through its embassy and the support of the French
Environment Global Facility (FFEM), has organized the Suva conference and
the launching tonight of the exhibition "Ocean as a climate change regulator”.
The conferences in New York and Suva remind us to stay alert and firmly
committed in the implementation of the Paris agreement. The aim of the
conference in Suva is to raise awareness, to share examples of best practices in
the sustainable development of oceans, five months away from the COP 23.
The participants of the conference are government officials, civil society
organizations and ocean experts from the region as well as partners for
development and international organizations (the EU, GIZ, IUCN, PIDF, PIF,
SPC, UNDP).
As you can see on the program, there will also be side-events to the conference:
poetry performances, exhibitions and documentaries.
Furthermore, the e-Pop project is also launched here in Fiji with the Ocean
Planet program from Radio France International (RFI) in partnership with
France 24 TV channel and IRD network. The e-Pop project establishes a
platform for short videos (3 minutes) related to climate change based on coastal
community stories through the eyes of young observers. The first Fiji e-Pop
teaser will be put on line on 1 July reaching potentially 200 million people
worldwide.
Finally, I would like to extend our appreciation to our major partner, the French
Environment Global Facility (FFEM). Thanks to their financial support
researchers from Tara expeditions Foundation, the French Research Institute for
sustainable Development (IRD, based in New Caledonia) and the Institute for
Pacific Coral Reefs (linked to CRIOBE, based in French Polynesia) are able to
be part of the conference alongside experts from USP and other organizations.
Thank you for your attention.