Fighting climate change: The 4th annual conference on protecting the oceans later this week
The Global Managing Director, Oceans of the The Nature Conservancy wrote this op-ed calling for a Paris Agreement for the Oceans.
On October 5 and 6, my team and I will attend the fourth annual “Our Ocean” conference in Malta, hosted by the European Commission. This annual gathering was launched in 2014 by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, with the hope of building momentum around ocean protection, and elevating the concern of a degrading ocean in the public arena.
Has this vision been achieved? I believe we have come a long way—ocean conservation is gradually becoming a mainstream concern, and that is a good thing. We now have multiple yearly ocean gatherings, including one hosted by the Economist, opening the dialogue to stakeholders beyond the conservation world. The ocean has its own Sustainable Development Goal 14, a United Nations conference and a newly appointed Special Envoy for the Ocean. Not a week goes by without one, or several, of the world’s leading media outlets sharing an ocean story.
But how does this translate to meaningful impact for our ocean? Global gatherings have a mixed reputation, often reduced to little more than talk shops. In some cases, this reputation is deserved, but I do believe there is real power in thoughtfully facilitated dialogue and skillful negotiation. More than ever, we need big wins for the ocean—wins that only large-scale, multilateral collaboration can achieve.
Think about what the Paris Agreement achieved. Yes, it took a long, complicated process to get here—but it is difficult to challenge the fact that climate change has made its way into mainstream discourse, and unprecedented action is underway to include climate change in planning and financing, across the spectrum of stakeholders. Governments have set their own targets; industry is largely represented and, in several cases, in the driving seat. Partnership has truly established itself as the new form of leadership. A sense of achievement and global positivity was strongly felt in the wake of the meeting—a sense that the world can come together with intent when it needs to. What the world needs now is a Paris Agreement for the ocean.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/we-need-a-paris-agreement-for-the-ocean_us_59ce421ee4b0f58902e5cb61
As of now, other than on twitter, all I can find is this one lonely article that does start with a great sentence:
This is the rapidly growing global marine conservation movement first launched by US Senator John Kerry in 2014.
https://blooloop.com/news/sea-life-trust-our-ocean-marine/
The parsity of coverage is not surprising as it got relatively little coverage during the 3 conferences when Kerry was Secretary -- even when Obama took some big positive actions that were announced there. The one exception ... when Leonardo DiCaprio spoke.
DiCaprio is committed and has given a lot to this effort -- and it might be that one of his biggest gifts is just his appearance. He was recently at the YAle Climate Change Conference in an interesting panel discussion with Kerry - https://news.yale.edu/2017/09/15/watch-sessions-kerry-climate-change-conference-livestream After watching it, I would highly recommend this for anyone, for combatting climate change wanting a very accessible discussion between two very different men, both sincerely committed to working on this issue.
On twitter, there were pictures of an event where Kerry got a special award from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation for his work on the oceans and climate change.
Link to tweet
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