Photo Credit: Cook Islands Office of the Prime Minister
Heads of state, governments, international agencies, civil society, international donors and the private sector gathered in Nice, France, earlier this month to showcase the symbolic importance of oceans to our conservation and sustainability efforts at the Third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC-3).
Halatoa Fua, NES Director, joined a Cook Islands delegation led by the Prime Minister. Hon. Mark Brown, and included the Office of the Prime Minister (Climate Change Cook Islands) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Immigration, to discuss a range of ocean related topics such as climate change, fisheries, protected areas, biodiversity conservation, pollution and waste, as an approach to mobilise efforts and accelerate efforts for ocean governance.
The Cook Islands’ identity, culture and economy, is based on its ocean and its linkage to land and marine ecosystems. Our ocean is threatened by pollution and waste, which is often underestimated and invisible. The threat to food security and health systems calls for the need to continuously strengthen ocean governance. NES’s presence at UNOC-3 was focused on the pollution and waste impacts on the marine environment.
The NES Director was engaged in waste and pollution commitments of UNOC-3. At the World Islands Forum, the Cook Islands updated its enabling activities at the national level. This included Infrastructure Cook Islands’ new Solid and Hazardous Waste Bill to improve management systems, and strengthening infrastructure to manage legacy waste, including asbestos and e-waste. At the regional level, the Cook Islands is committed to Pacific-led efforts to harmonise standards, pool technical expertise, and engage responsibly with development partners.
At the ministerial event on the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on Plastic Pollution, the Cook Islands expressed its commitment in taking a leadership role in the negotiation of a global plastics treaty. Our priority is to ensure the treaty addresses the entire lifecycle of plastics—not just waste management at the end, but also upstream controls, reduction in production, elimination of harmful additives, and support for countries with limited capacity. Small Island Developing States must be at the table, not just as affected parties, but as architects of the solutions. The Cook Islands endorsed the ministerial statement by France ‘the Nice wake up call for an ambitious plastics treaty’ to reaffirm its position on the priorities outlined to build a common ambition to end plastic pollution.
UNOC-3 was a useful platform for NES to support key ocean-related initiatives. Many countries made bold commitments such as announcing the ratification of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) agreement. As NES strengthens its national legislation and continue to engage in multilateral agreement negotiations, the UNOC-3 outcomes have laid a strong foundation to strengthen ocean governance in the coming years.
