New York, United States, Actor and activist Jane Fonda joined Greenpeace's delegation to the United Nations for a crucial Global Ocean Treaty meeting today. She delivered a rousing address to country delegates, thanking them for their work to protect the global oceans.
Agreement on the Global Ocean Treaty is one of the few multilateral processes on protecting nature that has made significant progress in recent years. This progress has continued at the United Nations in recent weeks, despite the United States not sending a delegation for the first time.
Jane Fonda said in her address to delegates at the United Nations: "The Global Ocean Treaty is a beacon of hope in these turbulent times. It shows that when we focus on our common humanity and our dependence on a healthy planet, we can push back against the tide of extraction and corporate greed."
Delegates have made strong progress in the last two weeks on setting up the first Ocean Conference of Parties (COP), which will be the UN body that brings the Global Ocean Treaty to life at sea. [1]
Jane Fonda also highlighted attempts by the current US administration to undermine multilateralism from outside the United Nations: "Hope for the future of our planet is still possible even as President Trump is trying to tear down multilateralism, undermine international processes to protect nature and stop environmental groups like Greenpeace from working to protect our planet."
"Trump's administration is trying to silence this movement - and the truth.They know protest works - that's why they're trying to make the stakes so high no one will be willing to take the risk. That's why Greenpeace in the US and Greenpeace International have been sued by Big Oil company Energy Transfer for hundreds of millions of dollars." [2]
Megan Randles, Policy Advisor, Greenpeace UK in New York for the Ocean Treaty negotiations, said: "We're delighted to have seen countries continue to make such good progress over the last two weeks. There is still a lot of work to be done to bring the Treaty to life at sea. We're here building something that will last long beyond the challenging political context we're working in – that will last for generations – not single administration. We must use this Treaty to protect 30% of the world's oceans, and to keep this target alive, governments must ratify it as soon as possible in 2025."
Greenpeace USA activists also displayed a vast banner earlier this week, outside the United Nations headquarters, reading "Protect the Oceans."
Photo and video are available in the Greenpeace Media Library.
