Six Steps to turn the Tide
Ban offshore oil and gas exploration and phase out existing fossil fuels
Rising temperatures increase the risk of irreversible loss of marine and coastal ecosystems, including damage to coral reefs and mangroves that support marine life.
The Paris Agreement’s goals can only be met if we immediately stop exploring for new fossil fuel reserves. Yet billions of dollars continue to be spent exploring the seabed for oil and gas – even in marine protected areas.
Drilling, production, transport, refining, etc. are often the cause of major oil spills.
Hydrocarbon exploration involves the use of airguns, which produce some of the loudest man-made noise ever known, damaging marine life from the smallest plankton to the largest whale.
Mandatory measures to reduce vessel speed
Anthropogenic noise in the marine environment is generally increasing at an alarming rate. In some areas, underwater noise levels have doubled every decade over the past 60 years. This poses a significant threat to marine ecosystems and the survival of marine life.
Shipping is the main source of continuous noise emissions to the marine environment. Ship strikes remain a major cause of mortality for large whales in many regions.
Greenhouse gas emissions of the shipping sector have increased by 20 per cent in the last decade, accounting for about 3 per cent of total global emissions.
All these impacts are directly related to the speed at which vessels travel and can be tackled immediately and effectively by reducing the speed.
Ban destructive fisheries such as bottom trawling
The use of destructive fishing gear, along with overfishing, is one of the greatest threats to marine ecosystems today.
Trawling and dredging should be banned in vulnerable seabed habitats and in areas where these fishing methods result in incidental harm and mortality of threatened megafauna species.
Harmful fisheries subsidies must be eliminated.
Adopt global rules to end plastic pollution, addressing the full life cycle of plastic
Pollution from the overproduction and consumption of plastics has become an existential threat to the planet, including our ability to stay on track to a 1.5°C world.
Global plastics production is projected to triple from 460 million tonnes per year in 2019 to 1,231 million tonnes in 2060 without significant regulation.
An estimated 9 million tonnes of plastic waste enters the Ocean each year killing vast numbers of whales, dolphins, seals, sharks, turtles, sea birds, and other marine life.
Agree on a global moratorium on deep-sea mining
There is a growing economic interest in extracting minerals from the deep-sea.
Once launched, deep-sea mining would result in one of the largest extractive operations in ocean history. It would also interfere with one of the planet’s largest carbon sinks in the midst of a global climate emergency.
Scientists warn that the impacts of deep seabed mining operations on the Ocean would act cumulatively to existing stressors such as climate change, pollution and overexploitation, likely causing direct and irreversible environmental and ecological effects, risking damage and loss of habitats and species.
Effective conservation measures to protect and restore marine ecosystems
Through the Agenda 2030, the United Nations have agreed on seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While many of the SDGs are relevant to ocean conservation, number 14 – ‘Life under water’ – is at its core. Currently, the world is failing to meet this goal.
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) adopted in December 2022 calls for effective restoration of degraded terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine ecosystems in order to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, ecological integrity and connectivity.
The High Seas Treaty from June 2023 is critical in achieving this objective. The Treaty provides the necessary institutional structure and mechanism to establish marine protect areas in the high seas and contains other importance conservation tools, such as environmental impact assessments that play an essential role in assessing and managing planned human activities that can harm marine biodiversity, especially considering the transboundary nature of many pollutants (i.e. underwater noise pollution).
The UN Ocean Conference 2025 provides a unique opportunity for governments to agree on a global strategy to protect and restore the Ocean.