The oceans must not become a "Wild West", where marine species are being hunted out of control - this is the warning UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressed delegates to the international oceans conference opened in Nice. The news was reported by the Agence France-Presse agency, BTA reports.
Guterres made his appeal at a time when US President Donald Trump is pushing for a unilateral start to extract natural resources in international waters of the Pacific Ocean - a practice that many say threatens both marine flora and fauna and global ecological sustainability.
„The great depths of the sea cannot become a Wild West. I hope we can restore the balance and replace looting with protection“, Guterres stressed.
Shortly before his speech, French President Emmanuel Macron also sent a strong environmental signal, calling for a global moratorium on the exploitation of the deep sea. According to “Agence France-Presse“, his appeal has already been supported by some thirty countries.