After a two-day preparatory meeting in New York ahead of June’s UN Ocean Conference in Portugal, earlier in February, activists handed over what they termed “A Blue Call to Action” for safeguarding the ocean to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
With the ocean in deep crisis, members of civil society and philanthropic organisations are urging governments and corporations to take bold action to safeguard the ocean.
According to recent data, the world has at most 10 years to win the battle to stay below the 1.5°C threshold above pre-industrial levels, and avoid the existential risks to nature and people that crossing it would bring.
In this regard, The RISE UP Blue Call to Action is a joint call by civil society, fisherfolk, Indigenous peoples and philanthropic organisations to governments and corporations to join a call and agree to bold action to safeguard the ocean at the next UN Ocean Conference in Portugal from 2-6 June 2020.
The call sets out common priorities, objectives and targets that the collaborating organisations collectively agree are vital to tackle the ocean crisis.
We have a choice: either we continue to follow a destructive, extractive economic model that will take us ever faster towards environmental, social and economic disaster; or we choose transformative change that respects and bolsters our ocean, its resources, its biodiversity, and the global community that rely on it. 2020 is the year in which we can drive bold, fair actions to set the ocean on a course to recovery,
…the group noted.
Blue Call to Action / RISE UP targets:
- Restore ocean life
- Invest immediately in a net-zero carbon emissions future
- Speed the transition to a circular and sustainable economy
- Empower and support coastal people
- Unite for stronger global ocean governance
- Protect at least 30% of the ocean by 2030
We want to inspire decision-makers and key stakeholders to RISE UP and agree on a course of action that will give our Blue Planet the best chance of survival. We want governments and companies to actively support the different goals and actions included in RISE UP and to commit to this bold and transformative action at the UN Ocean Conference in June, and to work expeditiously in their own countries as well as globally to ensure the necessary changes are made in both policy and action.
