Bangladesh
Rising Sea Level UN member states agree to 'historic' deal to curb sea level rise
Dhaka, March 6: United Nations member states agreed on Saturday to sign a draft international treaty, the first after years of negotiations, to take the necessary steps to prevent sea level rise from submerging nearly half of the world's land.
"Our efforts have finally reached their goal," conference president Rena Lee declared loudly before delegates at UN headquarters in New York to long applause. The draft was not immediately released but was hailed by environmentalists as a breakthrough moment in biodiversity conservation after more than 15 years of negotiations.
The agreement is seen as essential to conserving 30 percent of the world's land and oceans by 2030, as world governments agreed in a historic deal signed in Montreal in December.
"This is a historic day for conservation and a precedent that efforts to protect nature and people can win despite the geopolitics of a divided world," said Laura Meller of Greenpeace.
Delegates finalized a draft after two weeks of extensive deliberations, including marathon overnight sessions from Friday to Saturday.
"There will be no renegotiation of this," Lee told negotiators.
The agreement, she announced, would be formally adopted at a later date after it had been verified by lawyers and translated into the six official languages of the United Nations.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres commended the delegates. A spokesman said the agreement was "a triumph for multilateralism and a monumental event in this global effort to address the destructive trends facing ocean threats for present and future generations."
