UN World Oceans Day, celebrated internationally on 8 June, reminds us that a healthy Ocean, with thriving and well-protected wildlife and resilient marine ecosystems, is essential for a healthy planet. The Ocean, which covers more than 70 per cent of the Earth's surface, provides significant benefits to the global community, which depend in large part on the maintenance of ocean processes, marine biodiversity and related ecosystem services.
The climate and environmental emergency we are experiencing is a crisis of unprecedented proportions and threatens our very survival. Addressing the ocean crisis responsibly means accepting the need for rapid and far-reaching action to avoid the worst consequences of our unsustainable and unhealthy dependence on fossil fuels and strategic minerals – and to put the Ocean on a path to recovery.
Fabienne McLellan, Managing Director of OceanCare said:
“The Ocean is our closest and strongest ally in coping with the climate crisis. But we continue to hurt it, day by day. It's time we protect this already wounded ocean, let it recover to become resilient and healthy again – because our planet is blue.
“Marine wildlife is increasingly being threatened, degraded or destroyed by human activities, reducing the Ocean's and seas' ability to provide the vital functions on which life on Earth depends. We are failing to meet climate goals to keep global warming below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, just as governments around the world are failing to meet all targets of the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 14 ‘Life below water'.”
Nicolas Entrup, Director of International Relations of OceanCare added:
“It is not too late to take collective action and turn the tide, but the window of opportunity is likely to close in the next 5 to 10 years. That is why we are marking this year's World Ocean Day by launching an international petition, ‘Because Our Planet Is Blue', to encourage the public and decision-makers to recognise the scale of human-made threats and risks to the Ocean and take action.
“We call on the world's governments to use the UN Ocean Conference in June 2025 to agree upon taking effective action to tackle the most pressing issues. They need to upscale their ambition, increase efforts and measures and their implementation. We must stop harming our planet and start caring for it. We must protect and restore the Ocean so that its inhabitants can survive and thrive.”
To accompany the campaign, OceanCare is launching a Declaration aimed at decision-makers around the world, setting out six immediate steps that governments around the world must agree and implement to ensure that the destruction of the marine environment is halted and life in the Ocean is given a chance to recover:
-Ban offshore oil and gas exploration and phase out existing fossil fuel extraction;
-Implement mandatory measures to reduce vessel speed;
-Ban destructive fisheries such as bottom trawling;
-Adopt global rules to end plastic pollution, addressing the full life cycle of plastics;
-Agree on a global moratorium on deep-sea mining; and
-Ensure effective protection of marine habitats and enforce marine conservation measures to restore ecosystems damaged by human activities.
The proposals have been put forward by international experts from OceanCare, an international marine conservation NGO founded in Switzerland in 1989, holding Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (UN ECOSOC).
