This year, the ocean will finally be at the heart of climate negotiations. It was about time: it took 21 years of climate COPs and the integration of the ocean in the Paris Agreement’s preamble in 2015 for the ocean to appear in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process. COP25 intends to be blue, and wants it to be known, as evidenced by its logo displaying two shades of blue. In contrast, the red chronometer in its centre refers to the current climate emergency, (lately) highlighted by the alarming conclusions of the latest IPCC reports, including the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere, published in Monaco last September.
COP25, to be held in Madrid from 2-13 December and under Chilean presidency, was therefore announced as a “Blue COP” by the President of COP25 and Chile’s Minister of the Environment, Carolina Schmidt. A major success for the Ocean and Climate Platform and its members, working since 2014 to ensure that the role of the ocean is better taken into account in climate negotiations. This COP will be essential to encourage States to include ocean-related measures in their nationally determined contributions (NDCs), to be revised upwards in 2020. This COP will also be a highlight for civil society representatives as over 100 events will be devoted to the ocean: a first for the Climate Convention.
It is in this perspective, and following the 9 recommendations published at COP21, that the Ocean and Climate Platform publishes its advocacy document, strong of 20 recommendations for “a healthy ocean, a protected climate”, and resolutely focused on the ocean-climate-biodiversity nexus, key topics of the upcoming international agenda.
Resulting from the work and expertise of its 70 members, this document points to concrete solutions and measures, based on the latest scientific information available, to urgently preserve our ocean and its biodiversity in the context of climate change. Four major challenges are identified:
- Mitigation (reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing natural carbon sinks);
- Adaptation (promoting the adaptation of marine ecosystems and communities vulnerable to climate change);
- Science (strengthening research and disseminating knowledge on ocean and climate interactions);
- Sustainable finance (raising funds for ocean-climate projects).
These are all essential priorities for action if we are to rapidly reduce emissions, limit temperature increases to 1.5°C, and significantly reduce the risks and consequences of climate change on ecosystems and human societies.
Furthermore, in the run-up to 2020 which will put biodiversity at the heart of the international agenda, the IUCN World Congress in France, followed by COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in China will provide a major opportunity to promote/support these recommendations and strengthen the consideration of the ocean’s climate functions in the future post-2020 international framework for biodiversity.
To discover the Policy recommandations of the Ocean and Climate Platform “a healthy ocean, a protected climate” (2019), follow this link.