Green Marine at the United Nations!

The United Nations invited Green Marine to attend the 19th Meeting of the Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea on the topic of Anthropogenic underwater noise which was held this past June 18-22 at the UN Headquarters in New York. For the session, researchers, non-governmental organization leaders and government representatives met in plenary to discuss issues related to the management of anthropogenic underwater noise at the international level. At Transport Canada’s suggestion, Green Marine and the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority had the honour of representing Canada and actively partaking in these exchanges and discussions. On June 20, Green Marine Program Manager Véronique Nolet presented in some detail Green Marine’s environmental performance indicators for underwater noise. She also related the methods used to rally stakeholders from all walks of life towards the common goal of developing criteria to permit the shipping industry – port administrators and ship owners – to implement best practices and specific innovations to reduce their noise emissions and thereby mitigate their impact on marine mammals.

The presentations of all the panelists in attendance can be consulted here.

The meeting’s conclusions will be gathered in a summary report prepared by the co-chairs. The report will also include those issues that the UN General Assembly may wish to consider in future work regarding oceans and the Law of the Sea.