Tuvalu

________________________________________

TUVALU CONTRIBUTIONS

to the
OCEANS PREPARATORY MEETING
ELEMENTS FOR THE CALL FOR ACTION
TO SUPPORT GOAL 14 OF THE AGENDA 2030.

Presented by:

H.E Mr. AUNESE MAKOI SIMATI

February 15th - 16th, 2017
New York
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Distinguished Co-Facilitators, Excellencies and Colleagues. May the Good Lord our Savior bless this meeting and our nations united with our development partners.
Tuvalu associates itself with the statements made by the distinguished Chairpersons of PSIDS, AOSIS, LDC, through the respective honorable speakers.
We thank the UN and the CO-Facilitators and Co-Presidents for the organization and the documentations availed to us, especially the Background Note of the Secretary General on the SDG 14.
Tuvalu would like to make the following contributions to the Elements for Action, complimenting the detail elaborations shared by other Delegations.
Co—Facilitators, allow me to submit these suggestions for the outcome oriented output from the PREPCOMM, towards a CALL for ACTION for the OCEANS CONFERENCE come June this year. The suggestions are premised on the 10 Targets of SDG 14.

For Target 14.1:
Tuvalu suggests these Action Elements:
a. Establish a global ban on the use of microbeads and microplastics. Banning is the ultimate goal but it would be our call to transition strategically.
b. Establish a global strategy to phase out single use plastics. Exclusions would apply to plastics used for medical purposes which cannot be replaced by recyclable products.
c. Commence negotiations of an international agreement for environmental and safety standards for all offshore drilling and mining on or in the continental shelf, that would include liability provisions to cover damage to the marine environment from offshore oil and gas installations.
d. Urge tracking technology to facilitate user pay systems for marine debris, litter, oil spills, shipwrecks and abandoned ghost fishing gears, to assist with clean up responsibilities.
e. Ensure that atomic waste and pollution are thoroughly researched with regards their impacts on fisheries and the wider species and biodiversity of our globe.

For Target 14.2: Tuvalu suggest these Action Elements
a. Commit to establish marine protected areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction;
b. We urge a timely and comprehensive conclusion to the ongoing BBNJ process to effect a legal binding agreement.

For Target 14.3: the suggested action elements include:
a. Urging that more research must be done to minimize the impacts of ocean acidification.
b. Establishing a consortium of research institutions and universities to find means to minimize and address the impacts of ocean acidification
c. Call on all nations to advance their nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions and Oceans related elements.

For Target 14.4: the suggested action elements:
a. Call on all nations to ratify the legally binding Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate IUU Fishing (PSMA)
b. Call on all coastal nations to establish a ban on deep sea bed trawling on all sea mounts within the Exclusive Economic Zones and to establish a ban on deep sea bed trawling on all sea mounts in areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.. All deep sea bed trawling should be eliminated both within areas of national jurisdiction and beyond (sea mounts). Assistance should be provided to SIDS and LDCs to enforce this ban.
c. Ensure that all high seas fishing vessels have an internationally recognized identification number and a satellite transponder, so that their movements can be tracked by internationally established authorities.

For Target 14.5: the suggested action elements:
a. Establish new marine protected areas to cover at least 20 percent of their coastal and marine areas within the Exclusive Economic Zones. We applaud the good work done by Italy in this area.
b. PSIDS have emphasised the need to ensure that Indigenous Peoples and local communities are engaged in the establishment and management of marine protected areas.

Target 14.6: the suggested action elements:
a. Fuel subsidies for the fishing industry is a major driving force for over-fishing and over-capacity. The World Trade Organisations and other global institutions can collaborate on addressing these elements.
b. Agree to define other forms of subsidies including subsidies for vessel construction, repair and modification and other subsidies relating to operating costs.
c. Continue to develop sophisticated tracking technologies for monitoring and surveillance including satellite tracking systems.

For Target 14.7: the suggested action elements:
a. Adopt modern tools to manage highly migratory species like tuna and verify and monitor all catches form EEZ. We applaud the ongoing collaborations amongst Tuvalu and Australia and our CROP agencies (FFA and PNA)
b. Establish a special fund for SIDS and LDCs (perhaps through a special window of the GEF) to support their efforts to protect the marine environment and enhance their opportunities for sustainable tourism based on the coastal and marine environment.
c. Develop markets center and fisheries cooperatives with the DWFN so that we can address costs and competitive pricing.

Target 14.a: the suggested action elements:
a. Call for the establishment of centres of excellence to support research capacity and transfer of marine technology in SIDS and LDCs. These centres should assist in developing Indigenous and local community knowledge.
b. Collaborate with the LDC Technology Bank where necessary.

Target 14.b: the suggested action elements:
a. Establish a small scale grant funding arrangement to support small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets.
b. Consider revising the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to ensure that small-scale fishers have priority access to marine resources and markets and to reduce the pressure of distant water fishing fleets on the marine environment of coastal nations.
Concepts under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea such as maximum sustainable yield need to be revisited and priority given to food security measures in coastal nations.

Target 14.c: the suggested action elements:
a. Agree to undertake revisions to UNCLOS to better reflect the outcomes of the Rio+20 Conference and all other Oceans related policies and regulations; and the parallel frameworks; therefore the interlinkages of SDG 114 to other Goals of the Agenda 2030; Sendai Framework; Paris Agreement; and resourcing through the FfD; and the relevant programs in LDC IPOA the SIDS Samoa Pathway

Co-Facilitators,
For many of us from the Pacific Ocean, the sea is the basis of our livelihoods. Our culture, traditions and spiritual values are intrinsically rooted to the ocean. We are called the Pacific People because of the 27 million sq.km ocean we have been entrusted with, by God Almighty, to be its inherent custodians. As a public asset and a common good, we cannot do this solemn task of “ocean parenting” alone, we must collaborate through have genuine and durable partnerships for our common good.

We reaffirm our full support to the preparatory work for the Oceans Conference and to ensure alignment and implementation of the SDG 14 and the Agenda 2030 in its totality including the cross cutting issues within the national, regional or the global frameworks.

Thank YOU; Tuvalu mote Atua.