Speakers in the United Nations Ocean Conference today tackled ways to combat illegal fishing practices that were destroying vital marine habitats, as well as eliminate the $35 billion in harmful subsidies that had led to overfishing, distorted markets and chronic mismanagement of the world’s fisheries.
Speakers emphasized the urgency of expanding protected coastal and marine areas — one of the targets of Goal 14 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — as well as tackling the problem of ocean acidification during partnership dialogues on the second day of the United Nations Ocean Conference.
The inaugural United Nations Ocean Conference opened today with a call for urgent action to improve the health of the world’s seas, now in peril after decades of pollution, overfishing and the unattended effects of climate change that were decimating marine life, and in turn, livelihoods.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today approved, without a vote, a draft decision on the programme budget implications of a General Assembly draft resolution aimed at strengthening the United Nations system’s ability to help Member States implement the Organization’s Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
In a single round of voting today, the General Assembly elected Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Peru and Poland as non-permanent members of the Security Council for the next two years.
The General Assembly recognized today the right of return of all internally displaced persons and refugees in Georgia and their descendants, regardless of ethnicity, to their homes throughout that country, including Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia.
Despite global gains in the fight against the HIV and AIDS epidemic, some 1,800 young people a day were being newly infected with the virus and prevention rates among adults around the world had stalled, the General Assembly’s President said today.
The General Assembly today elected Miroslav Lajčák, Slovakia’s Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, as President of its seventy-second session, while also selecting members to the Bureaux of its six Main Committees.
Delegates today expressed support for a budget proposal to establish a new counter-terrorism office, as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) took up reports on the Organization’s Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and on peacekeeping missions in Abyei and Lebanon.
Taking up three texts on the role of professional translation, and cooperation between the United Nations and the International Organization of la Francophonie, the General Assembly adopted two draft resolutions and a draft decision today.
