Operation “Ocean Compact” 2012

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the “Oceans Compact” initiative on 12.08.2012. This is intended to tackle the “precarious state” of the world’s seas.

Oceans are facing a “grave threat” from pollution, excessive fishing and global warming.

“Ocean acidification is eating into the very basis of our ocean life; and sea level rise threatens to re-draw the global map at the expense of hundreds of millions of the world’s most vulnerable people,” Ban said.

Objectives

The Compact aims to protect the world’s people from ocean degradation and natural hazards such as tsunamis, from over-fishing and from pollution by land and sea activities.

It calls for countries most at risk from rising sea levels to develop plans to mitigate the threat, and for vulnerable regions to have tsunami warning systems.

By 2025, all countries should set national targets to curb nutrients, marine debris and wastewater.

The Compact calls for renewed efforts to curb illegal fishing, rebuild fish stocks and halt the spread of invasive alien species.

By 2020, it says, at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas should be subject to conservation measures.