French President Emmanuel Macron received Friday his Costa Rican counterpart Rodrigo Chaves in Paris to prepare the next United Nations conference on oceans scheduled in Nice in 2025 and organized by the two countries.
“That summit is fundamental (…) We cannot be the generation that steals the future from the generations to come. That is the mission we have taken on together,” Chaves, whom Macron received with a handshake at the Elysee Palace, told the press.
Nice, a French city on the touristy Côte d’Azur (southeast), will host the world oceans conference in 2025, although an intermediate meeting will be held in the Central American country in 2024, which the French president has already confirmed his attendance.
“We must act now to obtain a strong international consensus,” Macron assured, stressing that “the oceans are the first carbon sink,” are necessary to fight climate change and are home to a “treasure trove of biodiversity.”
The protection of the oceans has gained importance on the world stage.
In early March, UN member countries reached an agreement to create the first international treaty for the protection of the oceans, aimed at countering threats to these vital ecosystems.
The treaty is considered essential to conserve 30% of the world’s land and oceans by 2030 as agreed by the world’s governments in an agreement signed in Montreal in December. Currently, barely 1% of the high seas are protected.
Both presidents also discussed the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Macron expressed his “greatest solidarity” to his peer for the “migration crisis” he faces “because of the deterioration of the political and security situation in the region, especially in Nicaragua.”
“We are two countries that share the vision that in the world international law, dialogue and peace must prevail. That is why Costa Rica has denounced Russia’s violent and illegal attack on Ukraine,” which “is a global problem,” Chaves stressed for his part.
