HE Special Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Climate Change and Sustainability Ambassador Badr Omar Ismail Al Dafa, inaugurated today the “Blue Talks” seminar. The seminar was held in cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of the Republic of Portugal and the Embassy of The Republic of Kenya. The seminar was held at Qatar National Library, in preparation for the United Nations Ocean Conference for the year 2022, which will be held in Lisbon at the end of June.
The seminar was attended by Charge d’Affairs of the Embassy of The Republic of Portugal in Qatar Manuel Gomes Samuel; Charge d’Affairs at the Embassy of The Republic of Kenya in Qatar Washington Oloo; and a number of heads and members of the accredited diplomatic corps, experts, academics, researchers and activists in the field of environment and climate change.
In addressing the seminar, HE Ambassador Al Dafa thanked the embassies of the Republic of Portugal and the Republic of Kenya for cooperating in organizing talks in the field of clean environment in order to prepare the ground for the United Nations Ocean Conference for 2022.
He said that our oceans are facing major threats such as pollution, destruction of aquatic life and a significant decrease in fish stocks due to climate change. He pointed to the importance of the ocean’s role in protecting against the worst effects of climate change by absorbing more than 90 percent of global warming that appeared in the past fifty years, noting that about 8 million tons of plastic waste seeps into the oceans every year.
The Special Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Climate Change and Sustainability pointed out that humans have increased ocean pollution by 30 percent over the past two centuries, and that in 2019, the ocean surface temperature increased by 57 percent due to climate change, which threatens the marine biological system and the capacity of the oceans on providing resources to coastal communities. He believed that sea-level rise would likely threaten the 200 million people living in low-lying coastal areas.
He said that they will listen to experts about ways to protect and conserve the marine and coastal ecosystems and how to promote the sustainable use of water resources. He stressed however that protecting communities and oceans as well as the planet means the international community must cooperate to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
The Special Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Climate Change and Sustainability stressed the importance of creating a better and sustainable future for our world and future generations, and said that societies need to concentrate their efforts to build impact through these initiatives, and people need to support the Global Instrument to End Plastic Pollution by framing political and technological innovations that make economic trading practical and feasible, and to stimulate public and private financing in the field of clean environment.
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs