Italy committed to protecting the marine resources of Antarctica

Yesterday, Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Benedetto Della Vedova attended the Ministerial Conference held within the Committee for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). The conference, promoted by the European Commissioner for the Environment Sinkevicius, was attended by representatives of other European Union countries affiliated with the Commission (Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and Sweden – the Netherlands is absent) and John Kerry, the US special envoy. For the climate.
The aim of the meeting was to maintain significant interest in the topic of marine protected areas, which are an essential tool for protecting Antarctic marine resources through strict regulation of fishing activities, after in recent years it has not been possible to reach consensus within the CCAMLR to establish new protected areas.
In his speech, Undersecretary Della Vidova welcomed the holding of the conference, which is an important step in trying to overcome the current stalemate in the creation of new marine protected areas, which is linked to the historical differences of views between the members of the Committee itself. “In this context,” Della Vedova stressed that “the renewed commitment on the part of the United States in the multilateral field is of particular importance, which in the past played an important role in mediating the creation of protected areas.”
The Undersecretary referred to Italy’s traditional commitment to the protection of marine resources in Antarctica, especially through scientific research activities, and called on the parties to consider the possibility of holding a special session of the Antarctic Living Marine Resources Conservation Committee explicitly dedicated to the topic of marine protected areas in order to effectively conduct negotiations on an issue. strategy.
The conference achieved an important result by announcing that the United States and New Zealand jointly sponsor the proposed establishment of marine protected areas presented by the European Commission and the member states of the Antarctic Marine Living Resources Conservation Commission, and the UK, Australia, Norway and Uruguay have already co-sponsored it. (aise)