Malta’s first-ever Ambassador for Ocean Governance Prof. Alan Deidun recently
participated as a speaker within the Paris Peace Forum in his capacity as
member of the EU’s Mission Board for a Healthy Ocean. An ad hoc session was in
fact dedicated to the Ocean within this high-profile Forum which was opened by
French President Macron and which saw the engagement of thirty heads-of-state,
including Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. The session was chaired by former World
Trade Organisation Director-General Pascal Lamy and saw the interaction of a
number of Ocean Mission Board members, including Prof. Deidun, with hundreds of
Forum participants. This is an excerpt of Prof. Deidun’s intervention at the Paris
Peace Forum:
Arvid Pardo, widely known as the ‘father of the
Constitution of the Ocean’, in a landmark 3-hour speech at the UN’s General
Assembly in 1967, referred for the first time to the Ocean as the ‘common
heritage of mankind.’ There are very few elements on this planet as
intrinsically common and connected to all humans (irrespective of ethnic
background, geographical location, etc) as the Ocean. Thus, through its
‘common’ and ‘shared’ status, the Ocean can act as the best ambassador for
peace, as a soft diplomatic vehicle which transcends geo-political boundaries.
The Ocean can provide solutions to some of our compelling societal challenges,
through for example, the provision of food, freshwater and energy, the
regulation of climate and by acting as an untapped medicine chest. We need to
fire the public’s imagination about the Ocean, by taking the Ocean into their
living rooms and making them aware of the intrinsic role played by the Ocean in
their everyday life (e.g. through the provision of atmospheric oxygen).
In
cognisance of today’s societal most compelling challenges, five highly relevant
thematics have been chosen for this first round of Horizon Europe Missions.
These include Cancer, Soil Health and Food, Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, Adaptation
to Climate Change and Healthy Oceans, Seas, Coastal and Inland Waters. 15
experts populate each Mission Board, having been selected following a rigorous
and highly-competitive selection process, representing a panoply of individual
backgrounds, experience and nationalities. Prof. Alan Deidun is a member of the Oceans Mission Board, along with 14
other experts with diversified backgrounds, including former MEPs, research
institute directors, former DG MARE Directors, former WWF Directors, fishers’
lobbyists, NGO representatives and even freshwater specialists.