Mozambique
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Republic of Mozambique
STATEMENT BY H.E. Mr. AGOSTINHO MONDLANE, MINISTER OF
SEA, INLAND WATERS AND FISHERIES
ON
THE OCCASION OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE TO
SUPPORT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOAL 14: CONSERVE AND SUSTAINABLY USE OF
OCEANS, SEAS AND MARINE RESOURCES FOR SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
NEW YORK, JUNE 6, 2017
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Your Excellency Josaia Bainimarama Prime Minister of Fiji
Your Excellency Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate,
and Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden,
Excellencies
Distinguished delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is with a great honor that Mozambique takes part in this Conference which for us, as
a developing Coastal State, is an opportunity to exchange views on the challenges we
are facing regarding the sustainable use of the oceans and its protection and
preservation for the present and future generation which is at the top of the agenda of
the United Nations.
Mozambique is geo-strategically located in southern part of Africa, bathed by the
emblematic Indian Ocean, and we are blessed to share the Mozambique Channel, an
important route for commercial navigation and home to abundant biodiversity,
particularly in the North of Mozambique Channel.
This particular hot spot biodiversity is shared by other coastal and insular States such as
Tanzania, Madagascar and Comoros. Almost two third of the goods traded in
Mozambique pass through this channel either by export or import processes.
In view to preserve and maximize the benefits of the Mozambique Channel, the
Government of Mozambique, in the last 10 years, has shown its commitment with the
Oceans, and reiterates this commitment going forward.
Mozambique has come a long way with the institutional, political and legislative
reforms, in view to create capacity to handle current and emerging ocean's challenges
and is now on the final stage of elaborating its National Sea Policy.
Currently with the prospects of an oil & gas boom in Mozambique and neighboring
countries, it is becoming evident that we need to look at the oceans in a comprehensive
manner and adopting an integrated management approach, taking into account that the
ocean, although dominated by different interests, is a global and precious asset to
preserve for the benefit of humankind.
However, natural conditions such as climate changes and human activities are putting
the ocean capability in danger and if we do not start to act today, our communities will
be seriously and negatively impacted, thus limiting our development prospects.
Check against delivery
With this in mind we would like to welcome the Oceans Conference and the
Partnership Dialogues and thank the Government of Sweden and Fiji for jointly taking
the initiative to support efforts aimed at saving the world's oceans and achieve the
Sustainable Development Goals on oceans, seas and marine resources - SDG 14 of the
UN 2030 Agenda.
Excellences,
Mozambique attaches great importance to the SDG 14, as well as the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development as a whole and its Five Year Government Plan (2015-2019) is
aligned with those objectives, with emphasizes on the need to ensure sustainable and
transparent management of natural resources and environment.
The commitments which Mozambique is bringing to the United Nations, are a result of
a national consultation process, where we have built concrete, tangible and measurable
commitments towards the implementation of SDG14.
In this context and given the fact that 23% of Mozambican jurisdictional water was
declared as Marine Protected Areas, the Government of Mozambique has selected the
Marine Spatial Planning as a platform to respond to targets 14.5 and 14C, as a
structuring one that will enable us to respond other goals. Thus, the implementation of
this tool will ensure that these areas are preserved in spite of multiple ongoing maritime
activities.
Recognizing that the adoption of policies and laws is not enough, we need to bring to
Mozambique the modern trends of monitoring, controlling and surveillance of
activities, not only fishing activities but also all any maritime activity, to ensure the
conservation of our ocean for the benefit of our people, today and tomorrow.
As we cannot do it alone we have been fortunate that we can count on the substantial
support from various Cooperating Partners, such as the World Bank, FAO, Sweden and
Norway that are already financing many activities in our legal reform and supporting
other commitments.
Due to the fact that financing this process is demanding, we continue to welcome and
develop partnerships to achieve the goals we are pursuing in this field, as well as
recalling the developed countries to meet their internationally agreed development
goals obligations
In conclusion, we would like to emphasize that the success of this Conference will be
assured not only by the important decisions we are going to take in the course of this
week but, above all, by the capacity to mobilize resources in a timely manner to
advance the implementation of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, "leaving no
one behind". I thank you for your kind attention.
3
Republic of Mozambique
STATEMENT BY H.E. Mr. AGOSTINHO MONDLANE, MINISTER OF
SEA, INLAND WATERS AND FISHERIES
ON
THE OCCASION OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE TO
SUPPORT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOAL 14: CONSERVE AND SUSTAINABLY USE OF
OCEANS, SEAS AND MARINE RESOURCES FOR SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
NEW YORK, JUNE 6, 2017
Check against delivery
Your Excellency Josaia Bainimarama Prime Minister of Fiji
Your Excellency Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate,
and Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden,
Excellencies
Distinguished delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is with a great honor that Mozambique takes part in this Conference which for us, as
a developing Coastal State, is an opportunity to exchange views on the challenges we
are facing regarding the sustainable use of the oceans and its protection and
preservation for the present and future generation which is at the top of the agenda of
the United Nations.
Mozambique is geo-strategically located in southern part of Africa, bathed by the
emblematic Indian Ocean, and we are blessed to share the Mozambique Channel, an
important route for commercial navigation and home to abundant biodiversity,
particularly in the North of Mozambique Channel.
This particular hot spot biodiversity is shared by other coastal and insular States such as
Tanzania, Madagascar and Comoros. Almost two third of the goods traded in
Mozambique pass through this channel either by export or import processes.
In view to preserve and maximize the benefits of the Mozambique Channel, the
Government of Mozambique, in the last 10 years, has shown its commitment with the
Oceans, and reiterates this commitment going forward.
Mozambique has come a long way with the institutional, political and legislative
reforms, in view to create capacity to handle current and emerging ocean's challenges
and is now on the final stage of elaborating its National Sea Policy.
Currently with the prospects of an oil & gas boom in Mozambique and neighboring
countries, it is becoming evident that we need to look at the oceans in a comprehensive
manner and adopting an integrated management approach, taking into account that the
ocean, although dominated by different interests, is a global and precious asset to
preserve for the benefit of humankind.
However, natural conditions such as climate changes and human activities are putting
the ocean capability in danger and if we do not start to act today, our communities will
be seriously and negatively impacted, thus limiting our development prospects.
Check against delivery
With this in mind we would like to welcome the Oceans Conference and the
Partnership Dialogues and thank the Government of Sweden and Fiji for jointly taking
the initiative to support efforts aimed at saving the world's oceans and achieve the
Sustainable Development Goals on oceans, seas and marine resources - SDG 14 of the
UN 2030 Agenda.
Excellences,
Mozambique attaches great importance to the SDG 14, as well as the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development as a whole and its Five Year Government Plan (2015-2019) is
aligned with those objectives, with emphasizes on the need to ensure sustainable and
transparent management of natural resources and environment.
The commitments which Mozambique is bringing to the United Nations, are a result of
a national consultation process, where we have built concrete, tangible and measurable
commitments towards the implementation of SDG14.
In this context and given the fact that 23% of Mozambican jurisdictional water was
declared as Marine Protected Areas, the Government of Mozambique has selected the
Marine Spatial Planning as a platform to respond to targets 14.5 and 14C, as a
structuring one that will enable us to respond other goals. Thus, the implementation of
this tool will ensure that these areas are preserved in spite of multiple ongoing maritime
activities.
Recognizing that the adoption of policies and laws is not enough, we need to bring to
Mozambique the modern trends of monitoring, controlling and surveillance of
activities, not only fishing activities but also all any maritime activity, to ensure the
conservation of our ocean for the benefit of our people, today and tomorrow.
As we cannot do it alone we have been fortunate that we can count on the substantial
support from various Cooperating Partners, such as the World Bank, FAO, Sweden and
Norway that are already financing many activities in our legal reform and supporting
other commitments.
Due to the fact that financing this process is demanding, we continue to welcome and
develop partnerships to achieve the goals we are pursuing in this field, as well as
recalling the developed countries to meet their internationally agreed development
goals obligations
In conclusion, we would like to emphasize that the success of this Conference will be
assured not only by the important decisions we are going to take in the course of this
week but, above all, by the capacity to mobilize resources in a timely manner to
advance the implementation of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, "leaving no
one behind". I thank you for your kind attention.
3
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