The Sunday News
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
ZIMBABWE has called for participation of landlocked developing countries in the ocean-based economies to be enhanced as a matter of urgency, as they also have the right to access the oceans, as well as the right to participate on an equitable basis, in the exploitation of the surplus from the living resources.
Speaking at the ongoing United Nations Ocean Conference, which is being held in Lisbon, Portugal, Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndhlovu said the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), clearly gives landlocked States the right to access the oceans, as well as the right to participate, on an equitable basis, in the exploitation of the surplus from the living resources.
Minister Ndhlovu is representing President Mnangagwa at the conference.
“I commend the Governments of Portugal and Kenya, for co-hosting this important Conference, which is an opportunity to deliberate on how, collectively, we can confront the multiple challenges facing our oceans, seas and marine resources, in order to reinvigorate global efforts to rescue our oceans, in this decade of action for Sustainable Development,” he said.
He said they remain saddened that the participation of landlocked countries and developing countries (LLDCs) in the ocean economy remains marginal, partly due to poorly developed transit and transport systems, limited resources, lack of awareness, as well as limited access to the sea.
The Minister said it was imperative that the participation of landlocked developing countries in the ocean-based economies is enhanced as a matter of urgency.
“Zimbabwe, though landlocked, is very much part of this discourse on the health of the ocean and is equally concerned as the ocean provides all of us with vital services and products, and must be managed sustainably, for future generations. If the ocean fails, it is because we would have failed to assume our collective responsibility.”
“In pursuit of the objectives of the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and our cardinal belief of leaving no one behind, Zimbabwe continues to implement policies and regulatory mechanisms, geared at accelerating the achievement of all the 17 SDGs, with equal emphasis being placed on SDG 14, the one we are gathered here in Lisbon to review.”
The Minister said awareness raising, financial support, capacity building, technology and information transfer should be extended to landlocked developing countries, to ensure an inclusive approach to the implementation of SDG 14 and being true to the dictates of leaving no one behind.
He said Zimbabwe is committed to fully contribute towards global efforts to conserve the ocean and planet earth, through instituting measures to reduce plastic pollution.
“We have taken steps to ensure that waste, along the plastic life cycle, is addressed. My country now has a vibrant plastic industry which contributes to recycling of plastic waste, and improved livelihoods. We have also begun phasing down the usage of single-use plastics with the hope of phasing them out by end of 2023,” said the Minister.
He said Zimbabwe has also welcomed the landmark mandate calling for the development of a global treaty on plastics, adopted at United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) 5.2, which lays the groundwork to negotiate a comprehensive treaty.
The Minister said the problem of the ocean could not be solved without dealing with the climate and in the same vein, we could not solve the problem of the climate without dealing with the ocean because it is the great climate regulator through carbon sequestration.
