The United Nations will endorse a set of targets for the sustainable use of marine resources globally, which will have a positive impact on the future exploitation of resources from the Bay of Bengal.
“The targets will be adopted in the UN General Assembly in September,” said a senior official of the Foreign Ministry.
The UN member countries engaged in an unprecedented negotiation for the last 17 months and adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including sustainable use of marine resources and 170 associated targets.
The SDGs will be in effect from 2016 since the Millennium Development Goals expire next year.
Bangladesh actively took part in the negotiation process and successfully persuaded others to incorporate the targets at the 69th UNGA in New York where heads of states and governments of all countries will meet in September.
It is very important for Bangladesh as it received two back-to-back maritime boundary verdicts which cleared Dhaka to utilise marine resources in 1.2 lakh sq-km territorial sea area, the official said.
“Bangladesh, along with other like-minded countries, successfully negotiated to retain a goal on the sustainable use of marine resources,” he said.
Under the goal on sustainable use of marine resources, there are several targets which will determine the future exploitation of marine resources in the Bay. The targets state that coastal countries will have to reduce marine pollution by a certain percent by 2030, halt ocean acidification, restore and protect the ecosystem from destruction, as well as eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and destructive fishing practices.
The two important targets are to establish marine protected areas and eliminate fishing subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing.
Bangladesh intervened in the negotiation in April this year and put forward these targets and pushed to have them adopted, the official said.
“We do not have adequate analytical and evidence-based scientific assessment of the changes in the Bay of Bengal. Hence, it needs to develop its capacity for proper utilisation of the marine resources, he added.
