Minister calls for action plan to preserve healthy oceans

Abu Dhabi - The minister was speaking at a high-level gathering of local and global government officials.

A more concrete action plan is required to preserve a healthy ocean system for the future by reducing plastic pollution, a UAE minister has said.
Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, said with statistics indicating that there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish by 2050, the world must step up and commit to a more concrete action plan to generate solutions that can reverse these statistics.
The minister was speaking at a high-level gathering of local and global government officials and representatives of international environmental agencies that discussed efforts to combat marine pollution in Abu Dhabi and around the world, at a special session convened by the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) on the sidelines of World Ocean Summit 2019.
"Healthy oceans are essential to our very existence. Protecting oceans and ensuring they continue to provide us with the valuable services and resources that human beings have relied on for millennia is crucial to our prosperity," said Dr Al Zeyoudi.
The first meeting, 'Cleaning Abu Dhabi's Marine Environment', focused on advancing action to tackle the issue of marine litter including plastics, micro-plastics, discarded fishing gear and other types of marine waste in the waters of Abu Dhabi. The 'Saving the Rivers, Saving the Oceans' session discussed ways of tackling plastic pollution in coastal and riverine areas in developing countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, managing director of the EAD, said during the discussion:
"The oceans are a shared responsibility. Raising awareness and focusing measures on the dire issue of plastic pollution requires coordinated policy and funding, as well as the implementation of innovative blue technology. Our global partnerships are a critical pillar in facilitating collective action, and this roundtable represents a diverse commitment from stakeholders across both the public and private sectors."
ismail@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE
• Dubai