The invasion of Ukraine is damaging many of the international actions in favor of the environment pending in recent years. The protection of marine life in the Antarctic region does not escape the conflict. This is becoming evident at the forty-first round of annual meetings of the Commission of the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which will be held from October 24 to November 4 in Hobart (Tasmania, Australia) .
The meeting has the participation of delegations from the 27 members of this convention, including those of Ukraine and Russia.
The working sessions are addressing “critical issues affecting the Antarctic ecosystem, including updating management approaches for the globally important krill and Patagonian toothfish [or southern cod (Dissostichus eleginoides)] fisheries, reducing impacts of fishing on marine mammals and seabirds, spatial planning and proposals for marine protected areas, climate change, compliance and the elimination of illegal fishing”, according to the official summary of activities.
International nature conservation groups closely following the meeting add “the approval of new marine protected areas and rules to prevent overfishing” to the list of urgent needs.
At the moment, the only thing that seems clear is that the conflict created by the invasion of Ukraine is hindering progress on the agenda of the CCAMLR meeting and several sources indicate that Russia could block some of the most important agreements, which in this commission must be adopted by consensus.
The meeting began on Monday October 24 with a majority boycott of the attendees when the Russian delegation spoke for the first time. The head of the Ukrainian delegation, Kostiantyn Demianenko, thanked the international support and stated that Russia had no right to participate in the meeting. “A State that kills the civilian population, destroys the civil air and ground infrastructure of another country and defiantly violates the basic provisions of international law should definitely be limited in its right to participate in the activities of international organizations such as CCAMLR” , Demianenko has detailed in a message broadcast by AP.
The United States delegation, which is chaired at this meeting by Monica Medina, undersecretary of the State Department, gave its support to the symbolic boycott of the initial speech by the Russian delegates but has announced that it will participate in all attempts to approve the ambitious agenda of the meeting in Hobart
“Right now, Russia is blocking consensus on the adoption of three MPA (Marine Protected Areas) proposals, but so is China; so we are here trying to solve the problems with both countries”, indicated Monica Medina. “Russia had been using what amounts to its veto power to block progress not only in Hobart, but in various international forums,” lamented the US delegate.
