A World Economic Forum (WEF) Agenda piece was published last week by Emily Kelly, André Hoffmann Fellow at COS, and Elena Perez, Environmental Resilience Lead at WEF. Titled “Why our ocean could hold the best solutions to climate change”, it outlines the various pathways by which climate change impacts ocean ecosystems and connects those impacts to human wellbeing, which is heavily dependent on the affected natural ecosystems, such as nutrition, culture, and storm protection.
“The ocean’s influence doesn’t stop at the coastline,” write co-authors Emily Kelly and Elena Perez. "We are starting to see rapid changes to ocean chemistry, marine ecosystems, ocean livelihoods, weather patterns worldwide, and natural disasters globally that impact us all.”
The piece then shifts to recognizing the ocean solutions that have the power to combat climate change. The authors define four main solution areas: mitigation, adaptation, protection, and strengthening resilience. From rebuilding coastal mangrove ecosystems for storm protection to investing in offshore wind energy, the oceans hold an opportunity for achieving multiple benefits for people and nature.
“We know a healthy ocean provides us with the resources necessary to sustain life – knowledge that indigenous people and local communities have passed down for generations,” Kelly and Perez write. “We must learn from local experience as we develop the solutions to combat the very serious climate crisis we face and bring an inclusive perspective into the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.”
2021 will begin the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, a call to action for global communities to adopt and enact a common framework for approaching ocean science. The goal is that this framework will support ocean management and help countries achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Read the full Agenda piece >
Learn more about the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development >
