France to Host Summit on Protection of World Ocean in Coming Months

Paris – France will hold the One Ocean Summit, an environmental event for the protection of the ocean, in late 2021 or early 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.

“France will organize in the coming months what we did to protect biodiversity at the beginning of the year, that is, the One Ocean Summit, which will bring together scientists, economic players, regional players and representatives of the United Nations at one table,” Macron said during a visit to Marseilles.

The event will be held at the end of this year or in early 2022, either in Paris or another French city, he added.

The French president expects the summit to give an impetus to more ocean-related research initiatives and complement international law. Because the larger part of the world’s oceans do not belong to any national jurisdiction, all countries should work together to protect it, Macron said.

“And we need to regulate this issue, which is a matter of geopolitical cooperation. Otherwise, some states do whatever they want and can destroy biodiversity,” he added.

A UN-backed conference on oceans was scheduled to take place earlier this year but was postponed to 2022 due to the pandemic. Once health conditions are deemed suitable, the event will be held in Lisbon.