“We are losing the ocean and if we lose the ocean, we will be lost,” she warned yesterday, Monday, in an interview granted to AFP by actress and environmental activist Jane Fondawho traveled to New York to advocate for a future treaty to protect the high seas.

“The ocean provides us with 50% of the oxygen we breathe: it feeds billions of people. And he’s dying,” the well-known actress complained.

“I have children and grandchildren and I want to prevent the destruction of the planet (…) I want us to survive, I want the planet to survive,” continued the 85-year-old. “This is the battle that will determine whether there will be a tomorrow for mankind.”

The well-known film actress, who has campaigned since the 1970s for peace, in the feminist movement and then in environmental protection, last night presented to Rena Lee, the president of the conference which is being held with the aim of a treaty on the protection of the high seas, application for a “strong” conditionwhere gathers over 5.5 million signatures.

After more than 15 years of informal and then official talks, the negotiations for the high seas protection treaty they resumed yesterday in the hope of being the last.

“Yes, there is a glimmer of hope. We’ve never been this close and the momentum has never been this great,” Fonda noted during a reception attended by delegates and observers.

“We need a treaty and we need it now. Further delay would be to our detriment,” he added, outlining the woes plaguing the oceans, from plastic pollution to overfishing and global warming, acidification and oil spills.

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So “as a mother, grandmother and citizen of the world, I call on you to put aside the politics, greed, self-interest and inaction that tend to bury great courageous ideas,” Jane Fonda concluded.

They started yesterday with “positive energy”. the member states of the UN the two-week negotiations to try to finally reach a treaty to protect the high seas and prevent further damage that would lead to the removal of the target of conserving 30% of the planet by 2030.

After 15 years of talks, it is the third time in at least a year that negotiations have taken place in New York, in what is intended to be the last session.

This time, yesterday, at the start of the two-week negotiations until March 3, there is modest optimism that the current session will be the one that will deliver.

A “universal, effective, workable and future-proof treaty is within our reach,” conference chairwoman Rena Lee said at its opening.

“There is a lot of positive energy (…) and it is up to us to increase this positive energy, not lose sight of our goal and act so that this (conference) really is the last,” she then commented at the end of her on the first day of the session, receiving from Fonda the petition with the 5.5 million signatures of people asking for a ‘strong’ ‘treaty.

The high seas begin where states’ Exclusive Economic Zones end, which extend a maximum of 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the coast, and are therefore not under the jurisdiction of any country.

Although it accounts for 60% of the oceans and about half the planet, the high seas have long been neglected, with the burden falling on coastal zones and some iconic species.

Ocean ecosystems produce half of the oxygen we breathe and limit global warming by absorbing a significant portion of the CO2 emitted by human activities. However, they are threatened by climate change, all kinds of pollution and overfishing.