This week, world leaders are gathered in Lisbon, Portugal, for the United Nations Ocean Conference. A political declaration is an expected outcome.
The conference comes at what experts call a critical time for the world’s ocean, which is labouring under the weight of the climate crisis, rampant pollution and biodiversity loss.
We sat down with Leticia Carvalho, Principal Coordinator of the Marine and Freshwater Branch at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), to discuss what must be done to safeguard the world’s seas.
Speaking as an oceanographer, investment in our ocean is an investment in our survival.
Why is it called the Ocean Conference. Don’ t we have five oceans?
Leticia Carvalho (LC): We have names for five oceans based on their geography – Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and Southern. But it is in fact one body of water covering more than 70 per cent of the Earth! Thinking of it as one body of water way instils a deeper appreciation of sustainable ocean management. To care for the ocean’s parts necessitates caring for the whole. Whatever happens on one side of the ocean, like plastic pollution or sand harvesting, is felt everywhere.
In 2015, world leaders agreed to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a roadmap to ensure the survival of people and the planet. SDG 14, Life Below Water, set ambitious targets for ocean protection and restoration. However, some with targets for 2020 have not been met, others are not on pace to be met. What needs to be done to address this?
Leticia Carvalho (LC): SDG 14 holds the immense potential to both address the triple planetary crisis and underpin economic growth. The ocean is our largest ecosystem, and yet, is the least funded of all SDGs. This makes no sense when you understand that life on the planet as we know it would be impossible without a healthy ocean. The funding gap needs to be urgently be rectified. Speaking as an oceanographer, investment in our ocean is an investment in our survival.
How exactly is investing in the ocean critical to our survival?
LC: The ocean provides half the oxygen we breathe and plays a crucial role in climate stability and the weather patterns we rely on to grow food. The ocean has been central to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and absorbing the extra heat in our atmosphere since pre-industrial times.
Investment in SDG 14 is the only way to safeguard the ocean’s myriad species while supporting tourism, trade, food security and the livelihoods of billions of people.
Why is the UN Ocean Conference so important?
LC: The Ocean Conference will hopefully play an essential role in putting in place a new chapter of ocean action – one driven by science, technology, innovation and finance. It comes at a critical time as the world seeks to address many of the deep-rooted problems of our societies – problems that require solutions anchored in the SDGs.
As Peter Thomson, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, says, the ocean’s resistance and resilience are not infinite.
What’s your message to those attending?
LC: My plea to world leaders is to step up and make the changes needed to transform policies, businesses and lifestyles into something more sustainable, and less harmful and exploitative of the ocean. One of my greatest appeals would be to end the harmful subsidies that enable overexploitation of our ocean and undermine sustainable solutions. Innovation simply can’t compete with artificially low prices.
What can everyday people do to protect and restore the ocean?
LC: My advice would be to make ocean-friendly choices when buying products or seafood and consume only what you need. Make small changes in your daily life to reduce your carbon footprint, which contributes to rising sea levels. And don’t forget that we can all be ocean advocates. You vote with your pocketbook when you support companies trying to support nature-positive practices. The more conscious we become as consumers. the more business will respond.
How is UNEP helping to protect the ocean?
LC: UNEP works with local and global partners, such as governments, NGOs, and the private sector, to provide science that informs policy action and builds public awareness about the threats to the ocean. We work with states to help develop marine protected areas. We are using our global convening power to call for the reduction of humanity’s carbon footprint, especially in ocean-related sectors. We’re also supporting key initiatives, like the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and the Global Fund for Coral Reefs.
Have you seen encouraging progress in the effort to protect the oceans?
LC: Yes. Many countries are pledging to create marine protected areas and enact other effective area-based conservation measures. We also see increasing consideration for indigenous knowledge. This is crucial for success. Indigenous communities have lived in harmony with nature for centuries with tried and tested strategies.
Finally, at the fifth United Nations Environmental Assembly held in Nairobi, Kenya, in March 2022, Member States gavelled in a historic legally binding global instrument to tackle plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. This will culminate in 2024, a record-breaking pace for such a multilateral agreement.
The Ocean Conference, co-hosted by the Governments of Kenya and Portugal, comes at a critical time as the world is seeking to address many of the deep-rooted problems of our societies laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic and which will require major structural transformations and common shared solutions that are anchored in the SDGs. To mobilize action, the conference will seek to propel much needed science-based innovative solutions aimed at starting a new chapter of global ocean action.
