World Trade Organization’s
13th Ministerial Conference
Change Makers:
The Global Race
to Save our Seas
15h00 to 16h30
Room 1, Abu Dhabi National
Exhibition Centre (ADNEC)
Hosted by the Stop Funding Overfishing Coalition
Including The Pew Charitable Trusts, International Institute for Sustainable Development, WWF
The World Trade Organization (WTO) adopted the historic fisheries subsidies agreement at the 12th Ministerial Conference in 2022 but it has yet to come into force. The agreement will only take effect once it has been formally accepted by two-thirds of the WTO membership--at least 110 members. As part of the agreement WTO members committed to finalizing outstanding negotiations by the end of this 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13).
The Change Makers documentary, featuring ocean activist and actor Ted Danson and award-winning marine scientists Daniel Pauly and Rashid Sumaila, will examine the issue of overexploitation of our ocean and the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies as our best and perhaps only shot for turning the tide on environmental destruction.
And only by ratifying the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement and finalizing negotiations on overfishing and overcapacity by the end of MC13 can the WTO ensure lasting sustainability, improve ocean health, and secure the livelihoods of the millions who depend on the sea.
Agenda
15h00
Opening remarks
- Ambassador Nadia Theodore, Permanent Representative of Canada to the WTO
- Rashid Sumaila, Fisheries Economist, University of British Columbia
- Anna Holl Buhl, Senior Policy Advisor Fisheries, World Wide Fund for Nature
- Ernesto Fernandez Monge, Senior Officer, The Pew Charitable Trusts
Moderated by Megan Jungwiwattanaporn, Officer, The Pew Charitable Trusts
Introduction to the film
- Simone Kisiel, Director, Change Makers
15h35
Film screening
15h55
Q&A
16h25
Concluding remarks