Green Economy in a Blue World-Full Report

timely and globally coordinated measures and a legally-binding framework applicable worldwide, the impact of invasive species will only get worse over time. IMO’s adoption of an international treaty to address invasions through ships’ ballast water paved the way to a global approach and demonstrated the effectiveness of Member States working together under the right auspices. This example should now be followed by a similar response to ships’ hull fouling, possibly the second most significant vector for aquatic invasions, and by regulatory measures to control other means of transferring unwanted organisms from one place to another. Global efforts need to focus on building the right legal framework to address aquatic invasions in a coordinated and consistent manner.Without such a focussed, sustained and coordinated approach, under the aegis of IMO, the significant progress achieved since Rio 1992 will not be capitalized on, and the global benefits and momentum accrued so far in addressing one of the greatest threats to the world’s oceans may well be lost. Shipping plays a crucial role in international trade and the global economy. It operates effectively in a context of international regulations aimed at ensuring safe, secure andefficient shippingon clean oceans – one which also generates employment opportunities both onboard and ashore. By so doing, shipping contributes towards the three pillars of sustainable development and towards a green economy. In this regard, shipping is an environmentally-friendly form of commercial transport and by far the most energy-efficient, in particular in terms of CO 2 emissions per tonne/km. making considerable progress towards the transition to a green economy through different initiatives by the industry and through the enforcement of international regulations adopted by IMO. Further, the Organization’s ITCP forms an important tool in assisting developing countries in the implementation and enforcement of its global technical standards and in the efforts towards achieving the MDGs. Maritime transport is already 4 Conclusions and recommendations

A comprehensive international regulatory framework agreed by governments at IMO, which is widely enforced on a worldwide basis, has already done much to reduce various sources of pollution by shipping – both marine and atmospheric – augmented more recently by international regulations addressing atmospheric pollution and technical means of reducing shipping’s CO 2 emissions. societal, environmental and reputational case for further greening of the sector is clear and is espoused by both IMO, as the sector’s global regulator, and the industry itself, with the aim of: • promoting entry into force of all of IMO’s environmental treaties and their global, uniform implementation and enforcement, principally through the provision of technical assistance; • promoting enhanced flag, port and coastal State performance to deliver further reductions in pollution caused by ships through discharges to sea and emissions to air, including through the availability of adequate port reception facilities for ship- generated wastes; • promoting greater energy-efficiency of ships, including through the development of market-based measures, and, as a consequence, reductions in fuel consumption and in emissions of both air pollutants and greenhouse gases; • developing global standards to ensure that the operation of ships using alternative sources of fuel is both safe and environmentally sound; • promoting implementation, or development of global standards to prevent and control the transfer of invasive aquatic species through ships’ ballast water and the fouling of ships’ hulls, thereby contributing to protecting and preserving biodiversity and enhancing human health and the quality of the environment; • addressing, through existing and/or future treaty and other instruments, the technical, operational and environmental aspects of the ever-increasing size of ships; and • maintaining international shipping’s widely-acknowledged position as the most environmentally sound mode of transport. Nevertheless, the economic,

in a Blue World

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