Co-facilitators,

I align myself with the statements made on behalf of G77 and China, AOSIS, the Pacific Islands Forum and the Pacific SIDS. In our previous intervention we tried to answer questions number one and four and will now turn to the second and third one.

How could the declaration advance action? It can explicitly call on the international community to advance and conclude dialogues and action in multiple fora on the nexus between the adverse impacts of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions on the one hand and the Ocean on the other hand, including the Ocean dialogue in the UNFCCC scheduled for later this year, the ongoing discussions on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the current negotiations on the BBNJ instrument. This will build on a similar call in the Call for Action from the 2017 UN Ocean Conference and support the implementation of SDG14.

Now I will turn to how the international community can leverage synergies.

There is a need to conduct comprehensive assessments of cumulative impacts of human activities on the Ocean, including the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. However, such assessments will be complex and resource-intensive. The declaration should have a specific call for partnerships between academic institutions, researchers, and the private sector with coastal States to aid the latter in understanding and ensuring the conduct of such assessments. There are efforts underway in various contexts in this regard, so synergies between such efforts can be leveraged to aid such assessments.

But also the UN Ocean Conference has a role to play. It is a truly inclusive gathering, not only bringing governments together, but also civil society, academia, the major groups and business will be represented. All those stakeholders talking to each other, networking, exchanging information and

dedicating themselves to the conservation and sustainable use of the Ocean does provide the

synergies. Therefore we hope that the 2020 Conference will not be the last one of its kind.

I thank you.