Tuna Traceability Declaration

The UNSG’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, Ambassador Peter Thomson, participated in the Tuna Traceability Declaration event organized by the World Economic Forum and the Global Tuna Alliance the 16 September 2020. Other speakers included Kristian Teleki, Director of the Friends of Ocean Action, Andrea Weber, Director of Corporate Responsibility at METRO AG, and representatives of tuna supply chain corporation .

In his remarks, Ambassador Thomson said that in FAO’s recently launched 2020 SOFIA report it was evident that fish caught at biologically unsustainable levels (i.e. overfished) now sits at a level of 34.2%, and that taken with the fact that, “35% of the global fishing harvest is lost or wasted, and we cannot be satisfied with our performance to date.”

His central message to the event was that the Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration was heading in the right direction and that, fully implemented, it will deliver us a tuna supply chain that is legal, sustainable and transparent. He applauded “the fact that it gives effective commitments to support RFMO and government regulation and monitoring of fishing efforts and catches,” and highlighted the importance of “its commitment to effective traceability, so that consumers know where their tuna has come from.”

Ambassador Thomson concluded  his remarks by saying that, “All roads lead to the Glasgow Climate COP in November next year: we will decide there whether we are going to continue on our current road to the ecological destruction of 4˚C global warming; or whether we going to agree to undertake the required transformations of our consumption and production patterns.”