Yet another washout

UN Ocean Conference sees limited progress, as SDG 14 remains the least funded global goal despite pledges and finance talks

- ROHINI KRISHNAMURTHY

ENNORE, A picturesque coastal neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, is surrounded by the Kosasthalaiyar river on two sides and the Bay of Bengal on the third. Once rich in mangroves and waterbodies that shielded it from storms and erosion, Ennore is now at the centre of a deepening ecological crisis. A report submitted to the National Green Tribunal in 2022 reveals that the area's wetlands and mangroves have shrunk by nearly 70 per cent from 889 hectares in 2016 to just 278 hectares by 2022. The damage extends offshore too: the National Centre for Coastal Research documented in 2006 that the coastline north of Chennai port, including Ennore, had already lost 350 hectares to the advancing sea. While residents say the construction of groynes (structures to check coastal erosion) has temporarily halted erosion, Supriya Sahu, additional chief secretary, Environment Climate Change and Forests, Tamil Nadu, says that the state is drawing up a plan that includes restoring mangroves to arrest more impacts. Implementing the plan, though, will require substantial funding.

Some 7,000 km away in Nice, France, representatives from 175 nations gathered at the third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC 3), on June 9-13 to discuss funding for Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14), which focuses on conserving and sustainably using oceans and marine resources by 2030. SDG 14 has 10 targets and the loss of mangroves and wetlands in Ennore directly fall under one of them. The goal also has targets dealing with arresting marine pollution, ocean acidification, sustainable fishing and others. On the final day, delegates adopted a declaration noting that SDG 14 is the least funded SDG, urging countries to scale up finance.