A Global Effort Is Building to Save Our Oceans

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Earth's Oceans

Imagine what the world’s leading ocean scientists, policy experts, private sector actors, and activists could accomplish if they united as a single force for ocean health. We’re about to find out.

During the World Bank’s spring meetings, I had the honor of speaking with 120 of the leading thinkers and activists on oceans. It was a first gathering of organizations involved in the creation of the new Global Partnership for Oceans, announced earlier this year by President Bob Zoellick, and they came with enthusiasm and ideas.

Everyone in the room was united in their determination to restore the health and productivity of oceans through more collaboration and providing more resources for more results on an unprecedented scale. I saw a very strong alignment of interests – between the scientific community and civil society organizations, between the private sector and fishing communities, between bilateral donors and implementation agencies including the UN agencies who deal with oceans and other international bodies.

There was a feeling of urgency as the room discussed how to step up action to end decades of free-for-all exploitation, which, along with pollution, climate change, and the dramatic degradation of coastal and marine habitats have put oceans and the economies they sustain on the brink of collapse.

We all recognize that by working together, we will be able to pool resources more efficiently, avoid redundancies in research, data collection, and projects, and globally amplify the call for better oceans management.

Rachel Kyte; Vice President, Sustainable Development, World Bank

Global Partnership for Oceans Oceans are under stress. The Global Partnership for Oceans is a growing alliance of governments, international organizations, civil society groups, and private sector interests that will mobilize knowledge and financial resources to address threats to ocean health, resilience and productivity. Additional footage provided by Guy Harvey, The Nature Conservancy, and Conservation International. For more information, please visit http://www.globalpartnershipforoceans.org




Global Partnership for Oceans The Global Partnership for Oceans is a growing alliance of governments, international organizations, civil society groups, and private sector interests committed to addressing the threats to the health, productivity and resilience of the world’s oceans. It aims to tackle widely documented problems of overfishing, pollution, and habitat loss. Together these problems are contributing to the depletion of a natural resource bank that provides nutrition, livelihoods and vital ecosystem services.

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OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050: The Consequences of Inaction

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Humanity has witnessed unprecedented growth and prosperity in the past decades, with the size of the world economy more than tripling and population increasing by over 3 billion people since 1970. This growth, however, has been accompanied by environmental pollution and natural resource depletion. The current growth model and the mismanagement of natural assets could ultimately undermine human development.

The OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050 asks “What will the next four decades bring?” Based on joint modelling by the OECD and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), it looks forward to the year 2050 to find out what demographic and economic trends might mean for the environment if the world does not adopt more ambitious green policies. It also looks at what policies could change that picture for the better.

This Outlook focuses on four areas: climate change, biodiversity, freshwater and health impacts of pollution. These four key environmental challenges were identified by the previous Environmental Outlook to 2030 (OECD, 2008) as “Red Light” issues requiring urgent attention. Based on model projections, this edition of the Environmental Outlook paints a possible picture of what the environment might look like in 2050. It focuses on four areas which were identified by the previous edition of the Outlook as needing urgent attention: climate change, biodiversity, water, and health and environment.

Water: Balancing Demand By 2050, the world's growing population will use 55% more water in their homes, to grow food, and to produce electricity and manufactured goods. To ensure enough water to meet this demand, we will need to stop wasting it and find new ways to make sure there's enough to go around. For more info visit: www.oecd.org/water





OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050: The Consequences of Inaction The Water Challenge: OECD's Response

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Wonders of Nature: Jeju Island (South Korea)

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7 Wonders of Nature Announced

Among the winners of the 7 Wonders of Nature was Jeju Island (South Korea). The 7 winners were announced and listed in a prior post here.

Jeju Island - New 7 Wonders Jejudo is a volcanic island, 130 km from the southern coast of Korea. The largest island and smallest province in Korea, the island has a surface area of 1,846 sq km. A central feature of Jeju is Hallasan, the tallest mountain in South Korea and a dormant volcano, which rises 1,950 m above sea level. 360 satellite volcanoes are around the main volcano.




New 7 Wonders of Nature

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