Zhou Jinfeng Talks about the Major Challenges Facing the Ocean and Ocean connectivity | Shenzhen Global Marine Economy Forum 2024
On
October 31st, 2024, Dr. ZHOU Jinfeng, the founding chair of the
China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF), President
of the World Academy of Sustainable Development and Member of the World Academy
of Arts and Sciences was invited to attend the Shenzhen Global Marine Economy
Forum.
The forum was held from October 31st to November 1st, 2024 in Shenzhen, themed on “Developing the growth Drivers of the Blue Economy”. The Forum focuses on macro topics such as global marine economic development and international marine cooperation, covering fields like marine technology, industry, shipping, civilization, and cooperative governance. The forum has invited hundreds of dignitaries from key marine countries, senior representatives from international organizations, and executives from Fortune 500 marine-related companies to participate. It attracts over ten thousand marine professionals to attend and reaches a global audience through live streaming, making it an important international platform for promoting blue economy cooperation and marine innovation development.
The
forum holds 10 plenary sessions focusing on the dimensions of industry,
technology, shipping, civilization, and cooperative governance. Dr. Zhou
was invited to attend Plenary Session 7 themed on improving the Efficiency and
Increasing the Scope of Ocean Governance.
At
the meeting, Dr. Zhou spoke on topics of five major challenges facing the ocean
and ocean connectivity:
The
CBCGDF delegation attended the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to
the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15) held in Kunming and
Montreal, and participated in the preliminary negotiations of the
Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Looking back at the "Aichi
Biodiversity Conservation Targets" that ended in 2020, we found that none
of the 20 action targets were fully achieved and completed. So when formulating
the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, some people believed that
the biodiversity crisis was becoming more and more urgent and the window was
getting smaller and smaller, so an ambitious goal should be set, while others
said that we had set so many goals and had never completed them, so we hoped to
set a down-to-earth goal. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is
a very remarkable goal, which was finally achieved under the full promotion of
the Chinese government as the chair country and the joint efforts of all
participants. This is an ambitious and feasible goal.
So,
what should we pay attention to? As a scientific institution and a biodiversity
conservation institution, we certainly hope that it will take bigger steps, but
we still believe that this goal is the best, and the Chinese government and
countries around the world are also actively fulfilling this goal. Regarding
China's experience and the ocean, I would like to talk about some specific
cases to illustrate the relationship between our goals and the biodiversity in
practice.
Regarding
marine biodiversity, we believe that it faces five major challenges. The most
important one is uncontrolled fishing, and the second is the disappearance of
natural coastlines. This may not be so important globally, but in China, the
disappearance of natural coastlines is serious. Take Tianjin as an example. 40
years ago, Tianjin has more than 180 kilometers’ natural coastline, and now its
natural dark line is only more than 10 kilometers. This change has big impact on
marine biodiversity. The third challenge is the climate crisis, which is also
the third cause of biodiversity loss. The fourth challenge is plastic
pollution. We have participated in the global discussion of BBNJ, and the work
of developing a legally binding international instrument on plastic pollution
(including plastic pollution in the marine environment). Next, we will attend
the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee of the
"Global Plastics Convention" (INC-5) held in South Korea on November
25, because the negotiations on the Plastics Convention have a huge impact on
the ocean. The fifth biggest problem of the ocean is the growth of ocean
utilization. Marine industry, new ocean-going ships, new ocean development
technologies, new tourism, these may be positive from the perspective of the
marine economy, but they are all great challenges from the perspective of
marine protection.
Let's
talk about a few examples, such as natural coastlines. The Chinese government has
invested a lot of money in protecting the coastline. It has invested tens of
billions of yuan in the prevention and control of Spartina alterniflora
alone. We investigated the prevention and control of Spartina alterniflora
on the natural coastline of Tianjin. Yes, the Spartina alterniflora was
removed, but the last habitat of marine birds there was also lost. In previous
years, we could observe tens of thousands of first-class protected birds, the
relict gulls, foraging for food and wintering there every year, but this year
there were only more than 50 relict gulls foraging there, and their last
habitat was lost.
There
are many similar situations, such as in Nanhui Dongtan, Shanghai.We just had an
expert talk ingabout natural landscapes, which are very precious, but is it
right to plant trees in Nanhui Dongtan for the sake of natural landscapes? This
is completely wrong. Because that piece of mud is the last home of migratory
birds, it is the last delivery room for marine life and amphibians. After
planting trees here, they lost their last habitat.
In
response to plastic pollution, we have launched the "Peoples vs. Plastics" Project, which
promotes legislation to reduce the source of plastic pollutants and promotes
the plastic responsibility of enterprises throughout their life cycle by
discovering the source of plastic pollutants. It is also meaningful to put
pressure on companies based on the source of plastic waste. A recent scientific
paper proves that the 40-year marine debris cleanup program in Hawaii has
achieved remarkable results. The study analyzed and compared the data on the
entanglement and death of Hawaiian monk seals caused by ghost fish nets before
and after the implementation of the marine debris cleanup program. It was found
that the entanglement rate of Hawaiian monk seals dropped significantly in
areas where large-scale cleanup operations were carried out, proving that human
effort is very effective.
Regarding
dugongs, they were once widely distributed in the waters of the South China
Sea. There were still many records 40 years ago. However, in recent years,
scientists have not found them again in both the reserve and the offshore area.
Dugongs and seagrass are very important strategic allies for humans to cope
with the climate crisis. Dugongs eat seagrass and the seagrass grow again.
Dugongs have made important contributions to helping the spread of seagrass and
helping to increase peat at the bottom of the ocean. Now, we are also promoting
the ecological restoration of seagrass beds and the possibility of
reintroducing dugongs. In addition, we have just set up the Daqingzhen Island
Civilian Marine Reserve not far from Zhuhai, which is also of great
significance.
Translator: Sara
Reviewed by: Daisy
Editor: Sara
Contact:
v10@cbcgdf.org; +8617319454776
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