The US government has released its new Ocean Climate Action Plan, a ‘roadmap to harness the power of the ocean to advance immediate, transformational steps to protect ocean health and address the climate crisis’.
According to a White House fact sheet:
“Acknowledging that there is no path to a healthy and livable climate without the ocean, the plan outlines new actions on the Administration’s ocean-climate priorities, including efforts to advance climate solutions, promote environmental justice, support healthy communities, and ensure a robust and sustainable ocean economy.”
EcoWatch reported that the Ocean Climate Action Plan has three main goals:
- Achieve carbon neutrality.
- Work with the oceans to develop nature-based solutions to store carbon dioxide, reduce the risk from the climate crisis and protect communities and ecosystems from inevitable changes.
- Work with the ocean to boost the resilience of communities to those same changes.
To accomplish these goals, the report underscored eight priority actions, among them boosting offshore wind and other ocean-based renewable energy projects, decarbonizing maritime shipping, conserving and restoring marine and coastal carbon sinks and creating more marine protected areas. The Biden administration has already promised to protect 30 percent of U.S. land and water by 2030.
“Guiding these actions is a commitment to be responsible stewards of a healthy and sustainable ocean; advance environmental justice; engage with communities, Tribal Nations, and Indigenous Peoples; act based on evidence, science, and Indigenous Knowledge; and integrate and coordinate actions across the Federal Government,” Ocean Policy Committee co-chairs Arati Prabhakar and Brenda Mallory wrote in a letter introducing the plan.
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