Global Ocean Commissioner visits Nuku'alofa [1]
Friday, November 15, 2013 - 11:26
Hon. Samiu Vaipulu and Aliki Faipule Foua Toloa, Nuku'alofa November 2013.
The Commissioner of a newly established Global Ocean Commission, Aliki Faipule Foua Toloa from Tokelau is visiting Tonga this week.
Toloa who is meeting Pacific Leaders, ministers and institutions prior to attending the Commission's third meeting in Oxford, UK later this month, met Tonga’s Acting Prime Minister Hon. Samiu Vaipulu on 13 November in Nuku'alofa.
He said the commission will play a significant role in bringing Pacific Islands concerns to the attention of world leaders.
“I am looking forward to discussing the concerns that island leaders have about their priorities for the ocean and discussing with them what the Commission can do."
Pacific nations depend more than most on a healthy ocean for fish, recreation and tourism and to shelter us from the worst impacts of climate change. The Commission was set up to address these concerns so its crucial that Commissioners hear the Pacific voice and I will make sure they do, he said.
Aliki Faipule Foua Toloa is a former Ulu of Tokelau and its current Minister of Energy
Leaders
The Global Ocean Commisson, an independent body launched in February this year in London, is jointly chaired by former Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres, South African Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel and former UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband who is the CEO of the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian relief charity headquarters in New York.
Its work focuses on the high seas or the area of the ocean beyond nations Exclusive Economic Zones, as the high seas make up nearly half of the earth’s surface and are set to become increasingly important for the global economy in the future with the development of new industries such as deep-sea mining.
The Commission stated it would release a set of ambitious yet pragmatic recommendations for reform by mid-2014, shortly before the start of a high-level United Nations talks on protecting high seas bio-diversity.
It is an initiative of the Pew Charitable Trust in partnership with Somerville College at the Univesity of Oxford, Adessium Foundation and Oceans 5.