leaders from around the world expected in Nice – Liberation
The Baie des Anges turns into a diplomatic high place. About fifty international heads of state, including Brazilian president Lula, many scientists and representatives of civil society are expected this Sunday in Nice in Nice LOn the eve of the third UN conference on the oceans (UNOC 3). Emmanuel Macron intends to transform this meeting-the third of its kind after New York in 2017 and Lisbon in 2022-at the top of « mobilization ».
After a state visit to Monaco, where he closes today a forum on the economy and blue finance, the French president will join Nice by boat. A maritime parade will then be organized as part of World Ocean Day celebrations.
The president will later visit the Nice exhibition palace transformed into a huge whale belly. Then researchers will present the recommendations of the scientific congress which preceded the Nice summit, as well as the new Starfish barometer measuring the state of an overexploited ocean and overheating. The day will end with an official dinner with the heads of state and government at the Le Negresco Hotel, with a menu in the spotlight of the Mediterranean seasons and fish.
Up to 5,000 police, gendarmes and soldiers have been mobilized to ensure the security of the summit, which is not the subject of « Specific threat »according to the authorities.
Put under pressure by NGOs, the president also announced on Saturday a limitation of background trawling in certain protected sea areas (AMP) In order to better protect ecosystems.
This summit will be a « Mobilization, in a moment, politically, when climatic questions are called into question by some », said the head of state in an interview with Ouest-France, evoking « An American removal of withdrawal ».
The United States, the first maritime area in the world, have not planned to send a delegation, as well as to climatic negotiations. An absence that is part of the logic of announcements made at the end of April by Donald Trump, who had decided to open the underwater mining in international waters in defiance of law and the environment.
It was not until Monday, June 9, that the conference will then officially start, which must take stock of the efforts undertaken by the nations to sustainably develop the oceans. « The action does not progress at the speed or scale required », Recognize states in the final declaration draft, negotiated for months.
Until June 13, mining of the seabed, an international treaty on plastic pollution and regulation of overfishing and illegal fishing will be at the discussion table.
France has nevertheless had to revise its ambitions downwards for this first UN conference in France since COP21 in 2015. The 60 ratifications, expected in Nice, to allow the rapid entry into force to protect the high seas should not be obtained before the end of the year. This treaty, adopted in 2023, aims to shelter from marine ecosystems in international waters, which cover almost half of the planet.
France also hopes to expand the coalition of 33 countries in favor of a moratorium on the mining of seabed. Exchanges between delegations should finally relate to negotiations for a Treaty against plastic pollutionwhich will resume in August in Geneva, and on the ratification of agreements on the fight against illegal fishing and overfishing.
On the financing side, the Nice Summit « Is not strictly speaking a fund mobilization conference », wanted to highlight the Elysée, while Costa Rica, a conference co -organizing country, said hoping $ 100 billion in new funding for sustainable development. The protection of the oceans, which cover 70.8 % of the globe, is the least well funded from the 17 UN sustainable development objectives.
