UN Ocean Conference

27-Jun-2022: The 5-day UN Ocean Conference takes off with the Governments of Kenya and Portugal being the co-hosts.

The 5-day UN Ocean Conference took off today with the Governments of Kenya and Portugal being the co-hosts. Leaders from over 130 countries from across the world will deliberate for five days to find an international agreement on protecting the world’s oceans, seas and marine resources.

Meanwhile, on the first day of the 5-day conference, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, who is leading the Indian delegation, had bilateral talks with a number of Ministers from different countries attending the meet. In some of these meetings, the Minister was also joined by other members of the Indian delegation.

Tomorrow, Dr Jitendra Singh is scheduled to present India's statement before the full House of the UN meet. Other members of the Indian delegation from Ministries of External Affairs, Earth Sciences and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry etc will also be present.

The Ocean Conference comes at a crucial juncture as the world is seeking to address many of the challenges requiring structural transformations and Innovative and Green solutions to achieve the SDG Goal 14, which calls for Conservation and Sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources.

The UN had underlined on several occasions that the oceans on the planet are facing severe threats as a result of human activities and will likely to become worse as the world population grows and human activities increase.

Speaking to media, Dr Jitendra Singh outlined that India has already taken a big lead in Green Technology and as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2030 goal is to reduce India’s emissions by 45 percent by adding 500 gigawatts of renewable energy generators to the country’s power kitty, thereby reducing almost one billion tonne of our CO2 emissions.

The Minister also pointed out that India recently undertook a nationwide awareness campaign to clean plastic and other waste from coastal areas and this mission will soon become a Jan Andolan.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has taken up several initiatives, programmes and policy interventions to protect the marine and coastal ecosystems, mangroves and coral reefs.

26-Jun-2022: On the eve of 2022 UN Ocean Conference beginning tomorrow, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh holds pre-conference meeting with Indian delegates and Embassy officials at Lisbon

Soon after his arrival at Lisbon, Portugal for the 5-day UN Ocean Conference beginning tomorrow, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today held a pre-conference meeting with Indian delegates and Embassy officials to assess the preparation by the Indian side and to deliberate on the stand to be taken by the Indian delegation on various issues likely to be raised at the meet.

More than 130 countries are participating in the UN Ocean Conference at Lisbon from 27th of June to 1st of July 2022.

Dr Jitendra Singh observed that the Ocean Conference, co-hosted by the Governments of Kenya and Portugal, comes at a critical time when the world is seeking to address many of the deep-rooted problems of our societies laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has taken a lead in these global endeavours. The Minister added that this will require major structural transformations and common shared solutions that are anchored in SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).

Dr Jitendra Singh said India will bring to the plate, the much needed science-based innovative solutions aimed at starting a new chapter of global ocean action to “Save our Ocean and Protect the Future”. Dr Jitendra Singh will deliver the Keynote address at the UN Conference on the theme “Scaling up Ocean Action based on Science and Innovation for the implementation of Goal 14: Stocktaking, Partnerships and Solutions”.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, India will take active take part in deliberations and suggest solutions on issues like marine pollution, promoting and strengthening sustainable ocean-based economies, managing, protecting, conserving and restoring marine and coastal ecosystems, managing and addressing ocean acidification, deoxygenation and ocean warming and making fisheries sustainable.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, under PM Narendra Modi, India would be providing science and innovation-based solutions for the implementation of Goal 14 through partnerships and environmentally friendly solutions. He said, India has well established collaboration and partnerships with UN Agencies and Research Institutions for bridging the methodology and data gaps on SDG indicators and working towards UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, 2021–2030, for clean, healthy, productive, predictive, safe and accessible ocean.

Reiterating India’s deep rooted commitment for saving Oceans and its resources, Dr Jitendra Singh refereed to today’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’ by Prime Minister Modi, wherein he said, “the pollution caused by plastic was also increasing on the sea coast of Puducherry, therefore, to save its sea, beaches and ecology, people here have started the 'Recycling for Life' campaign. Today, thousands of kilograms of garbage is collected and segregated every day in Karaikal, Puducherry”.

At the end of deliberations, the Conference will adopt, by consensus, a brief, concise, action-oriented and inter-governmentally agreed declaration focusing on, and highlighting, the science-based and innovative areas of action to support the implementation of Goal 14 and a report containing the co-chairs’ summaries of the interactive dialogues.

25-Jun-2022: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh leaves for Portugal today to take part in the “2022 UN Ocean Conference” in Lisbon from 27th of June to 1st of July 2022

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh left for Portugal today to take part in the “2022 UN Ocean Conference” at Lisbon from 27th of June to 1st of July 2022. More than 130 countries will participate in the UN Ocean Conference.

Dr Jitendra Singh will deliver the Keynote address on behalf of India at the UN Conference on the theme “Scaling up Ocean Action based on Science and Innovation for the implementation of Goal 14: Stocktaking, Partnerships and Solutions”.

In his departure statement, Dr Jitendra Singh said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, India would be providing science and innovation-based solutions for the implementation of Goal 14 through partnerships and environmentally friendly solutions. He said, India has well established collaboration and partnerships with UN Agencies and Research Institutions for bridging the methodology and data gaps on SDG indicators and working towards UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, 2021–2030, for clean, healthy, productive, predictive, safe and accessible ocean.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, with the participation of civil society and other relevant stakeholders, the participant nations will reaffirm our strong commitment to conserve and sustainably use the ocean, seas and marine resources. He added that greater ambition is required at all levels to address the dire state of the ocean. As leaders and representatives of our Governments, we are determined to act decisively and urgently to improve the health, productivity, sustainable use and resilience of the ocean and its ecosystems.

Dr Jitendra Singh informed that India has taken up several initiatives, programmes and policy interventions through different Ministries and Departments to protect the marine and coastal ecosystems, mangroves and coral reefs. There are 10 targets in Goal 14 to measure the health and services of water related ecosystems with emphasis on social, economic and environmental conservation. A total of 11 indicators have been identified at national level to measure and monitor the progress of these targets and data is collected on a regular basis for 9 indicators by monitoring the health/condition of coastal Waters and marine ecosystems.

The leaders will also reaffirm the declaration entitled “Our ocean, our future: call for action”, adopted by the high-level United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development, held from 5 to 9 June 2017.