by A diver examines a coral reef on November 27, 2017 near the Comoros archipelago, Indian ocean. Credit – Alexis Rosenfeld – Small pictures
WThe first sea reserves in the world were founded in the 1920s. Jacques Cousteau was a teenager. The deepest thing we could dive was about 500 feet. People began to imagine what could be under the surface, which discoveries were waiting and what it could earn to protect protection.
We made a lot of progress almost a century later. The ocean is the center of the global economy and offers food, work, transport, tourism and much more. It has brought us promising treatments for diseases, animal inspired engineering and robotics as well as the basis for space exploration technology. Inspired by the UN decade of ocean science, which in 2021 started a 10-year advance for measures Marine researchers, philanthropes and political leaders worldwide to map the entire sea floor and to identify 100,000 new species by 2030. Until 2030, the United Nations made Ocean Conference (UNOC) by 2030. Wasten to protect 900,000 square kilometers of sea – and on the high lake contract to protect marine life in international waters.
And yet there is still a lot to do with our ocean and its role in maintaining the entire life on earth – and there is still a lot to do to protect it. In order to build on the dynamics of the UNOC, marine protection – due to robust marine protection areas and other measures – will continue to progress in addition to exploration and research. And until the next conference in 2028, governments play, while the society sector plays a role in saving the sea.
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In the past two decades, the evidence has been shown repeatedly that protection of the ocean not only supports the planet, but also all of us that rely on it. A recently carried out study showed that the protection of the ocean’s sea increases the catch for valuable fish, including large types of migration such as Bigeye and Yellowfin Thunfisch, which alone support 40 billion US dollars in global business. Another report showed that Marine not only help to rebuild the fish stock, but also to achieve a higher income and nutritional safety for the nearby coastal communities.
Despite the evidence and despite our progress in the direction of better responsibility, however, we face strong headwinds: from reversal in protected areas to the heating of water water.
Governments, organizations of international and civil society society as well as philanthropies such as the Schmidt Ocean Institute, Schmidt Sciences, Dona Bertarelli Philanthropy and the Bertarelli Foundation that we lead occur to support – and work. The partnerships between public-private sectors will be of essential importance for the transfer of Ocean Science to Ocean Action.
The waters around the Galapagos Islands offer an example of what is possible through long-term partnership between sectors. Famous for their endemic plant and their animal life, which inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, the water of the islands was granted legal protection for the first time 50 years ago. Today, the reserve, which is managed by the Ecuadorian government in consultation with local fishermen and scientists, enables fishing and tourism and at the same time stricter rules in more sensitive areas. Ecuador recently added more than 23,000 square kilometers to the protected waters and worked together in cooperation with Costa Rica, Colombia and Panama. In a deal of $ 1,6 billion of its existing commercial debts in a loan of 656 million US dollars, which was supported by Dona Bertarelli Philanthropy by Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy and other partners, which provides funding for financing for marine protection activities every year. The Bertarelli philanthropy complemented this work and also supported the development of the Marine Manager of Global Fishing Watch, the open source data to the Galapagos area and worldwide to support maintenance, politics and research.
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In fact, scientists still discover new insights around the Galapagos. The Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Philanthropic Research Ship Falkor (also) undertook two expeditions around the islands in 2023 and met with two large, untouched coral reefs and a hydrothermal ventilation field – all previously unknown mankind, all of whom wanted to watch free on YouTube free of charge. As with the Global Fishing Watch Marine Manager, the live stream offers an intimate connection with the ocean for a global audience – far from the days when only a few people had the chance to explore, and without much depth. Both the reefs and the ventilation slots offer information on the still dramatically examined deep sea and the role that it plays in the maintenance of the wider ocean, and indeed the entire planet, healthy.
The Galapagos are not the only place where Marine protection areas (MPA) benefit both humans and the planet. A study recently founded by California with 59 MPAs that created a network of reserves in 1999 – are more and larger fish in the entire network, especially in species searched for by fishing. This was true, although the MPAs were different, how they prohibit activities such as fishing, shipping and tourism – although a stronger and longer permanent protection correlated with significant results.
The more we explore and protect the ocean, the more we use the advantages, be it in the form of economic returns or scientific breakthroughs. Promotion of preservation – through MPAs as well as a variety of complementary guidelines and data acquisition efforts – supports economies and scientific research in a virtuous cycle. The world put a long way just a century ago when we could only see as far as the sun allowed the sun. As a philanthropic, we try to understand the ocean better through science and data – the basis for accountability and actions. We demand the political decision -makers, experts and supporters – and everyone who is fascinated by the sea reminds that the more we are looking for and the more we find, the closer we get to a healthy ocean and a healthy planet.
Dona Bertarelli is Executive Chair by Dona Bertarelli Philanthropy and co-chair of the Bertarelli Foundation. Wendy Schmidt is a co -founder and president of the Schmidt Ocean Institute.
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