outreach informal 2 day 4

Protecting the ocean must be a priority in global sustainability goals, writes Kateryna M. Wowk, Marine Policy Consultant. The ocean – and the life-supporting services it provides – is facing multiple threats including acidification, ocean warming, hypoxia, sea-level rise, pollution, and the overuse of marine resources… More

Once seen as boundless, today there is a growing awareness that the world’s oceans are finite and the marine life they hold can indeed be exhausted, writes Nathalie Rey, Greenpeace. Roughly 90% of big fish have been fished out, coral reefs are disappearing, we are choking our oceans with pollution, and climate change is permanently altering their chemistry, with disastrous effects… More

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is calling on the international community to develop, on an urgent basis, an integrated, international program aimed at monitoring the chemical, biological and socio-economic impacts of ocean acidification, write Natural Resources Defeense Council. Such a monitoring network is essential to provide States and coastal communities with the information necessary to prepare for the impacts of ocean acidification on fisheries, corals and marine food webs… More

Social aspects of sustainable tourism in the context of sustainable oceans, the green economy and the eradication of poverty

When the tsunami struck in December 2005 in India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Thailand, it devastated coastal areas where both tourism and the fishing industry were embedded, write Tourism Concern. The tsunami, for all its monstrous consequences to life and livelihood, none the less offered an opportunity for change… More

Many of us are familiar with a common expression that we’d rather regret the things we did, than regret the things we didn’t, writes Joanna Benn, Pew Environment Group. I am writing as governments convene at the UN in New York to discuss the outcome document for Rio+20. After a year of hard work, oceans were declared as one of the priorities for Rio+20 in the document… More

Sustainable energy development is increasingly important globally, nationally, and within the circumpolar Arctic, writes Magdalena A K Muir, Artictic Institute of North America. The tension between environment and development is evident in the production and use of energy. Fossil fuels have supported modern societies and lifted billions of people out of poverty… More

Climate change could derail plans by Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs) to use fisheries and aquaculture to foster economic development and food security, writes Johann Bell, Pacific Community. Bottom-dwelling coastal fish are expected to be hardest hit. Under continued high emissions of greenhouse gases, stocks of these fish are estimated to decrease by 20% by 2050 due to global warming and ocean acidification, which affect the fish themselves as well as the coral reefs that support them.. More

This issue of Outreach highlights the critical importance of oceans – 70% of the earth – in maintaining the dynamic equilibrium between our ecosystems that support the flourishing of life itself in all its forms, writes Kirsty Schneeberger, Stakeholder Forum. We now face challenges at multiple fronts, from sustaining aquaculture and marine life, to the relationship between energy generation and oceans and how to responsibly explore these options; as well as responding to the multiple stresses that the oceans are under… More

Wednesday’s negotiations on sections III and V opened with CST text on green jobs and social inclusion, write Emma Puka Beals, Mount Holyoke College, Tamasin Ramsay, Monash University and Naomi Kumazawa, MGCY/Environmental Partnership Council Japan. The G77 continued to work off of CST text, but moved to delete language on the green job creation that it found overly prescriptive. Several delegates agreed on deleting examples of potential green jobs, as they felt that the list was non-exhaustive and unnecessary… More

Quote of the day

The path that values ecosystem function as the basis of life and wealth is the one that leads to sustainability, less conflict, and ultimately, survival for the human race.

John D. Liu

Outreach is a multi-stakeholder magazine which is published daily at Rio+20 Intersessional and Preparatory Meetings. The articles written are intended to reflect those of the authors alone or where indicated a coalition’s opinion. An individual’s article is the opinion of that author alone, and does not reflect the opinions of all stakeholders.

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