OP-ED by Ambassador Peter Thomson, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean
With every breath we take, we are connected to the ocean. The ocean gives us oxygen, provides us with food and livelihoods. It stabilises our climate, absorbing most of the heat trapped in the Earth’s system. Billions of humans, animals and plants rely on a healthy ocean. But the ocean’s health is in trouble.
Rising carbon emissions are making the ocean more acidic, weakening its ability to sustain life underwater and on land. Plastic waste is choking the ocean. And if we continue on our current track, more than half of the world’s marine species may stand on the brink of extinction by 2100. Solutions exist to restore the health of the ocean, but they will require action from all parts of society, from world leaders down to every one of us.