United Nations Ocean Conference address

SUBJECTS: Blue carbon ecosystems, Global Coalition for Blue Carbon and domestic blue carbon projects

TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: I am delighted to join all of you for this very special event.
 
In Australia, normally when we come to an event like this, we first acknowledge the traditional owners of the land or sea that we are meeting on that day. 
 
So today instead what I’d like to do is acknowledge all the First Nations people globally, pay respects to their elders and acknowledge the significant and enduring role played by Indigenous peoples everywhere in protecting our precious environment. 
 
I also very much want to thank our close friends and our partners the French Government for this invitation. I’m very grateful to the government of Portugal and of Kenya for hosting this wonderful conference, the opportunity to bring so many of us together. 

Australia is delighted to endorse the Joint Declaration on the Creation of a Global Coalition for Blue Carbon. 
 
We believe a Global Coalition for Blue Carbon has the potential to complement the research and programs that Australia helps coordinate through the International Partnership for Blue Carbon.  
 
We have one of the longest coastlines on earth, estimated at more than 34,000 kilometres and we’re home to about 12 per cent of the world’s blue carbon ecosystems – from mangroves, to seagrass beds, to salt marshes. 
 
So we very much understand the importance of protecting, restoring, expanding these environments. 
 
The situation has never been more urgent. 
 
Up to 50 percent of our planet’s coastal ecosystems have been lost over the last century.
 
There is no such thing as a healthy environment or healthy oceans without action on climate change. And we can’t tackle climate change without action on our oceans.
 
Ambition is our only option.
 
Our new Prime Minister has committed Australia toa 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030 and we have submitted an updated Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement to reflect this increased ambition. Legislating this goal will be one of our first acts as a new government. 
 
Later this week, our Government will announce five new blue carbon projects. These will build on our already extensive action on Blue Carbon.
 
These projects will restore mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses across our nation. 
 
They will help increase carbon sequestration, marine diversity, and mitigate flooding. 
 
Australia is privileged to be home to the oldest, continuous environmental custodians on earth. 
 
For more than 65,000 years, Australia’s Indigenous people have cared for land and sea country – ‘country’ being so much more than its physical properties.
 
There is much Australia, and the world, can learn from their example.
 
That’s why our Government will double the number of Indigenous rangers by the end of the decade – so that 3,800 First Nations people will be supported to care for their traditional land and sea country.
 
These rangers will fuse tens of thousands of years of knowledge with the latest research to better protect and restore some of our nation’s most precious blue carbon ecosystems.
 
We will also continue to partner with our Pacific family to support blue carbon projects and share the latest blue carbon science and accounting.
 
Under the new Australian Government, the environment is back - front and centre. 
 
And we’re not just willing to do our bit, we’re willing to step up to join our partners in showing global leadership. 
 
I look forward to working together with you all in the critical years ahead.