Croatia supports the Global Ocean Treaty

As a part of an international ocean protection campaign, Greenpeace activists exhibited an ice sculpture of penguins in front of the National and University Library. Zagreb has thus joined the global action, which is being held in twenty countries around the world, demanding the adoption of the Global Ocean Treaty.

Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the UN member states are just discussing the Global Ocean Treaty, which would be an internationally legally binding document on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in international waters.

The Republic of Croatia supports the aforementioned Treaty and advocates that the European Union should lead its adoption globally.

As one of the priorities of its Presidency, Croatia has recognized the protection of the marine environment and the reduction of marine pollution, and will actively support and lead the implementation of further activities by the EU, a leading global leader in the protection, conservation and sustainable use of the oceans at global level.

The protection of the oceans, marine ecosystems and the sustainable use of ocean and sea resources have been included in the European Green Deal through a series of proposed policies and measures, by which the environment is free from harmful substances and which support conservation and recovery of ecosystems and biodiversity, the backbone for transforming society and the economy towards sustainability.

Our oceans and seas face significant pollution of marine litter, which is estimated to account for 95% of the plastic content of floating and 50% of plastic in seabed waste. The primary origin of this waste is from disposable plastic products. It is therefore of utmost importance to prevent and reduce the quantity of disposable plastic products by implementing the legal framework adopted by the EU in 2019 in the form of the Single-Use Plastic Directive.

The ice penguin sculptures that will be placed in front of important political headquarters around the world will, by melting, symbolically indicate the increasingly devastating effects of climate change and the important role of the ocean.