Bangladesh will be working with 53 countries to promote conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific.
The announcement came at the third ‘Our Ocean Conference”, held from September 15 to 16 in Washington DC where the participating countries announced over 136 new initiatives on marine conservation and protection pledging more than $5.24 billion, according to a US State Department press release.
“Bangladesh announced a cooperative effort among 53 countries in the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP),” the release said.
According to the release, the participants of the third Ocean Conference reiterated their commitment of supporting the initiatives on marine conservation in different countries, including in Bangladesh. The commitments focus on the key ocean issues of marine protected areas, sustainable fisheries, marine pollution, and climate-related impacts on the ocean.
At the conference, the US also announced that it would issue four grants totaling $1 million to fund projects to reduce nutrient pollution in the Caribbean and marine debris in Southeast Asia.
Referring to the promoting sustainable fisheries initiative launched by Secretary John Kerry at “Our Ocean 2015” conference held in Chile, the state department said the initiative brought together 45 governments and organisations to share knowledge and better coordinate to combat illegal fishing around the world. Bangladesh is one of the partner countries of the initiative.
According to the state department, the US government also announced pilot activities for Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines to integrate marine tenure into fisheries management projects to support small-scale fisheries for food security and poverty reduction.
