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State Secretary Samuel Žbogar at 68th International Whaling Commission Meeting

  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The plenary part of the 68th Meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which will take place until 21 October 2022, this year under Slovenia's chairmanship, has started. High-level participants, including a number of delegates from the Contracting Governments and representatives of non-governmental delegations, were addressed by State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Samuel Žbogar, Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning Uroš Brežan, and Mayor of the Municipality of Piran Đenjo Zadković.
State Secretary Samuel Žbogar addressing the participants

State Secretary Samuel Žbogar addressing the participants | Author Ministrstvo za zunanje zadeve

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State Secretary Žbogar underlined Slovenia's strong international engagement on the environment, linking climate, water and food security. He called for the strengthening of ocean resilience and effective international ocean governance and went on to highlight Slovenia’s numerous international initiatives, including the UN Security Council candidature, which puts the environment at the top of the security agenda.

At this year's meeting, delegations from around 70 countries will approve the work and recommendations of both the Scientific and the Conservation Committee, which address the main threats to whales and dolphins and their environment, such as bycatch, entanglement in discarded fishing and other gear, stranding, collisions with ships, underwater noise, pollution, marine litter, the impact of climate change, and steps towards the establishment of protected areas.

This meeting is focused on the establishment of a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic and on the adoption of resolutions on reducing the impact of marine plastic pollution, on food security in relation to whales, and on steps to re-introduce commercial whaling.