Scientists have drawn up a rescue plan for our oceans. The plan is bold, and brilliantly simple: we cover the planet in ocean sanctuaries, putting a third of the oceans off-limits to fishing, mining and other destructive industries. Here’s the problem: at the moment, there’s no way to create new sanctuaries outside countries’ national waters. We can’t protect these huge areas of the ocean without an international agreement on how this protection would work. Governments have started work on a UN Ocean Treaty, and if they get it right it’ll gives us the tools we need to make these sanctuaries happen. The oceans need your support.
This ocean sanctuaries scientific study maps out how to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030, a target that scientists say is crucial in order to safeguard wildlife and to help mitigate the impacts of climate change. 30×30: A Blueprint For Ocean Protection is the result of a year-long collaboration between leading academics at the University of York, University of Oxford and Greenpeace.
Fundamental changes need to be made in the way our oceans are managed. This means that we must act to make sure that human activities are sustainable, in other words that they meet human needs of current and future generations without causing harm to the environment.
