In the advance of the June G7 meeting in Cornwall, the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) convened a virtual workshop of international scientists to highlight the critical importance of the ocean and outline a plan of action to ensure a sustainable ocean future for nature and people.

Ocean scientists from G7 countries, including locally based University of Plymouth Professor of Marine Biology Jason Hall-Spencer and Professor of Oceanography Philip (Chris) Reid, identified seven asks for the G7 to lead a stimulus package of policy and science interventions to stop damaging the ocean, protect, manage and restore the ocean and lead a decade of global ocean action.  The asks are detailed in an IPSO Scientist Statement and supported by an NGO letter to Ministers ahead of G7 Environment Ministers Meeting.

“In 2021, the G7 has a unique opportunity to lead the global ocean protection and recovery needed to tackle climate disruption, reverse biodiversity loss, support human wellbeing, and embark on a successful, inspirational recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The threats facing our planet are connected. We cannot solve the climate or biodiversity crises if we ignore the ocean. To turn the tide in favor of humanity and a habitable planet we need to better understand the ocean, value it, and prioritize urgent action to protect it at the Earthscape level.”

The asks draw on a more detailed IPSO paper, published in Aquatic Conservation last November, which called for an urgent change in the way we think about the ocean and made six, scientifically informed points which everyone needs to understand and act on in order to improve understanding and action in its defence.  Lead author Professor Dan Laffoley said: “These may seem simple, but decision makers do not act as if they were true. Humanity cannot survive without a healthy ocean performing the services that make our planet habitable and allow us to live. We have to understand that the one ocean of our planet is vital to our existence so let’s start talking about it in those terms.”