Environment: Della Vidova, Italy’s commitment to protecting Antarctic marine resources

Rome, April 28 21:44 – (Nova Agency) Today, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Benedetto Della Vidova participated in the Ministerial Conference held within the Committee for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (Ccamlr). This was announced by Farnesina. The conference, promoted by the European Commissioner for the Environment Sinkevicius, was attended by, among others, representatives of other EU countries participating in the Commission (Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and Sweden – the Netherlands is absent) and John Kerry, the US special envoy for climate affairs. The aim of the meeting was to maintain great interest in the topic of marine protected areas, which are an essential tool for protecting Antarctica’s marine resources through strict regulation of fishing activities, after it has not been possible to reach consensus in recent years within Ccamlr to create new protected areas. In his speech, the Undersecretary welcomed the holding of the conference, which is an important step in trying to overcome the current stalemate in establishing new marine protected areas, linked to the historical differences of views among the members of the body 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 protecting marine resources in Antarctica, particularly through scientific research activities, and called on 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 Antarctica, in order to The effectiveness of negotiating a strategic issue. The conference achieved an important result by announcing the United States and New Zealand to co-sponsor proposals for the establishment of marine protected areas submitted to the Committee for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) by the European Union Commission and the member states (which have already co-sponsored it) from the United Kingdom, Australia, Norway and Uruguay) . (Com)

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