ENT Foundation joins more than 50 organizations in sending a letter to EU leaders urging the protection of the oceans as a climate action.
On 25 September, on the occasion of the presentation in Monaco of the Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the Ocean and the Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC), more than 50 non-governmental organizations sent a letter to European leaders asking them to exercise their leadership by acting to protect the ocean from climate degradation.
EU leaders and presidents of some of its member states, including Pedro Sánchez, have received a letter signed by 52 European social and environmental organisations.
The letter reminds leaders that the ocean plays a fundamental role in human and planetary health. It is necessary to maintain the best possible health of our seas and oceans in order to increase their resilience to the climate-related impacts to come.
To that end, the letter has urged EU leaders to:
- End overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. All EU institutions and Member States must fully implement and enforce the Common Fisheries Policy, in particular the deadline for ending overfishing by 2020.
- Put a strong High Seas Treaty in place by the end of 2020.
- Protect at least 30% of the ocean through implemented, highly protected and fully protected areas by the end of 2030, and the remaining 70% of the ocean managed sustainably.
- Protect ocean depths through a precautionary moratorium on seabed mining.
Ending overfishing and protecting marine areas are essential climate actions that will protect habitats and biodiversity, replenish fisheries and marine food webs, improve the carbon cycle and sequestration, and build up the resilience of oceans to resist dangerous climate change. The adoption of these measures is an opportunity for EU leaders to demonstrate their commitment to restoring the largest source of life on the planet, and is key to achieving a new European green deal that protects nature and communities.