The Ocean Is Our Best Chance to Survive Climate Change
- Media Manager
- Nov 30, 2023
- 2 min read
TIME
Written By: Peter Thomson
Published: November 30th, 2023
Thomson is the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean and co-chair of Friends of Ocean Action at the World Economic Forum.
Over the last two years, a positive wave of ocean action has been sweeping the planet. Its momentum offers the most powerful opportunity in recent memory to improve humanity’s relationship with the ocean.
The ocean hosts 95% of the planet’s life; it also absorbs 93% of its excess heat and about 30% of human-generated carbon dioxide. The ocean produces more than half of the oxygen on the planet. In fact, just one little photosynthetic creature in the ocean, the Prochlorococcus, provides 20% of the oxygen in Earth’s biosphere.
The development of a sustainable ocean economy includes a myriad of climate adaptation and mitigation opportunities. For example, by protecting and restoring blue carbon ecosystems like mangrove forests, seagrasses, and coral reefs, we can safeguard our coasts and the livelihoods of millions of people who live there; by supporting sustainable seafood, we can improve food security while keeping the carbon footprint of global protein production low. Meanwhile, by developing offshore wind alongside marine carbon dioxide removal projects, we could get back on track to meet the Paris Climate Agreement goal of keeping global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. And green shipping could help maintain the growth global trade in a carbon neutral manner.
Basically, the ocean and climate change are inextricably entwined. The good news is that recently there’s been a surge of engagement in ocean conservation and the development of a truly sustainable ocean economy that recognizes this reality. Corporations and banks now see the wisdom of being in on the action. Ocean-related start-ups and innovation are flourishing. The ongoing work of philanthropies, NGOs, and civil society is compounding. Ocean science is receiving more attention than ever before in human history, and despite current geopolitical tensions, there has been remarkable momentum on the ocean front in international arenas.
