Today The Economist organized a webinar on the occasion of World Oceans Day. The topic was an interesting question. What would you do if you had a billion dollars available to protect the oceans?
Peter Thomson, UNSG’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, Alexandra Cousteau, granddaughter of Jacques Cousteau and advisor to Oceana, and Maria Damanaki, Global Ambassador for Oceans, The Nature Conservancy were the speakers.
What would I do ?
If I had to answer this question, I would be like most participants in this forum for the expansion of Marine Protected Areas; but with tough and adequate protection.
Research in recent years has shown the undoubted result that this is the most effective way to improve fish stocks and marine life relatively quickly effectively. A short video during the webinar showed that in some cases, the fish stocks have increased by up to 800 percent.
But declaring an MPA is one thing. Without effective implementation and rigorous control and resolute protection and, if necessary, sanctions, it is merely printed paper. An MPA without control and protection is like a toothless shark.
We have to be clear about what we want
We need more knowledge about what we would like to protect, and therefore science and research are central to protecting the oceans. That is the only way to answer the what and why to understand the benefits.
We should make more use of the technological developments in recent years to protect the marine ecosystem: from artificial intelligence to satellite technology, from big data to real-time monitoring. We have to find a way to organize it so that we know what is happening.
For years we’ve been talking about the problems the ocean has. We describe and analyze them, but there are considerable limitations to implement feasible solutions. To create something sensible, however, we need to be clear about what we want.
The debate on the blue economy and the sustainable protection of the oceans is highly and sectorally fragmented. Everyone understands it differently, and everyone has their sectoral interests. A holistic, holistic approach is mostly lacking.
The question remains: where should we go?
And we cannot forget the underlying threat: the Climate Change. The Great Barrier Reef is a MPA (Marine Protected Area), but nevertheless it is still dying: because of the rising of water temperature caused most probably by Climate Change.
What should be the biggest priority for ocean investment?