AOA and partners to hold media briefing before July CCAMLR meeting in Germany
The Antarctic Ocean Alliance (AOA) and its partner organisations will hold a media tele-briefing in Germany just before the start of the upcoming meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) where the fate of two key Antarctic Southern Ocean protection proposals will be decided, the AOA press release said.
The international AOA media tele-briefing in English will be held on Wednesday the 10th at 10 a.m. (a German language briefing will follow at 10:45 a.m.). Interested media should register for the tele-briefing by e-mailing aoa@mediacompany.comand an invitation with access link information for joining the briefing will follow. Journalists who are not able to join the conference online will also have the opportunity to take part via telephone: in addition to the access link a telephone number for joining the conference will be provided. Speakers will include Steve Campbell, Director of the Antarctic Ocean Alliance, Andrea Kavanagh, Director of the Pew Southern Oceans Sanctuaries Project and Bob Zuur, Programme Manager WWF Antartic and Southern Ocean Initiative. Media will have the opportunity to ask questions during the briefing.
The 25 Members of CCAMLR will meet from 11-16th July in Bremerhaven, Germany to consider two key proposals for Antarctic marine protection, either of which would be the world’s largest Marine Protected Area (MPA) if designated. CCAMLR’s special July meeting has been called because the Commission couldn’t agree on the two proposals, years in the making, at its meeting last October. All CCAMLR decisions require consensus of the Members.
The US and New Zealand propose that CCAMLR designate a Ross Sea MPA of 2.3 million square kilometres including a "fully protected " area of 1.6 million square kilometres. The Ross Sea is often referred to at “the last ocean” because it is one of the only large ocean habitats that is still relatively intact and home to a dazzling array of marine wildlife. A second proposal from Australia, France and the European Union would designate seven marine protected areas in East Antarctica covering about 1.63 million square kilometres.
The Southern Ocean is home to more than 10,000 unique species including most of the world’s penguins, whales, seabirds, colossal squid and the remarkable Antarctic toothfish. The region is critical for scientific research, both for studying how intact marine ecosystems function and for determining the impacts of global climate change.
The Antarctic Ocean Alliance partners will attend the CCAMLR Bremerhaven meeting to ensure CCAMLR delegates to step up to the challenge and designate the Ross Sea and East Antarctic proposals. More than 1 million people around the world have joined the call for CCAMLR to live up to its commitment to establish a network of marine protection in Antarctica’s Southern Ocean in the last two years.