The Apia Ocean Declaration was announced during the 27th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and calls on all 56 Commonwealth nations to protect the ocean in the face of severe climate, pollution and overexploitation.
as calls from some of Britain’s former colonies for reparatory justice for the trans-Atlantic slave trade grew louder.
While the environmental threat was foreshadowed as a predominant theme going into the summit, the transatlantic slave trade from Britain’s colonial history dominated the discourse through the opening days.The Apia Commonwealth Ocean Declaration for One Resilient Common focuses on recognising maritime boundaries amid sea-level rise, protecting 30 per cent of oceans and restoring degraded marine ecosystems by 2030, and urgently finalising the Global Plastics Treaty.
Mata’afa said the declaration must become “a line in the sand” for the world to collectively transform “ocean exploitation into protection and sustainable stewardship.” At its height in the 18th century, Britain was the world’s biggest slave-trading nation and transported more than 3 million Africans across the Atlantic.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had entered the summit vowing the U.K. would not offer an apology for slavery or discuss reparations. He left with that promise mostly intact, though the final communique called for discussion of the matter. Earlier in the week, Starmer suggested that opening the door to a conversation about reparations could lead to “very, very long endless discussions.”
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