One Ocean, Many Worlds of Life - Convention on Biological Diversity

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For marine and coastal areas, there are several specific and relevant targets. For example, by 2020, all fish and invertebrate stocks and aquatic plants should be managed and harvested sustainably, legally and applying ecosystem-based approaches, so that overfishing is avoided, recovery plans and measures are in place for all depleted species, fisheries have no significant adverse impacts on threatened species and vulnerable ecosystems, and the impacts <strong>of</strong> fisheries on stocks, species and ecosystems are within safe ecological limits. Within the same timeframe, at least 17 percent <strong>of</strong> terrestrial and inland water areas, and 10 percent <strong>of</strong> coastal and marine areas, especially areas <strong>of</strong> particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems <strong>of</strong> protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures. And by 2015, the multiple anthropogenic pressures on coral reefs, and other vulnerable ecosystems impacted by climate change or ocean acidification are minimized, so as to maintain their integrity and functioning. There is no question, particularly given the scale <strong>of</strong> the threats posed to marine and coastal biodiversity, that such goals are ambitious. But they are necessary, for time is short. Even as we are continuing to learn much about the environments and wildlife that inhabit our seas and coasts, the threats they face are clear, and the solutions are available. All that is required is the will, the will to recognize that marine and coastal biodiversity is worth more alive than dead, the will to recognize that its protection benefits not only the biodiversity itself but the countless millions who rely on it for their cultural, dietary, pharmaceutical or financial needs, and the will to recognize that the longer the delay, the more difficult solutions become to implement. It requires a will on the part <strong>of</strong> governments to take top-down action when necessary and to work with communities to provide support for grass-roots activities as appropriate. It requires a will by those same governments to stop distributing largesse in the form <strong>of</strong> subsidies, which distort the market and remove any incentives not to overfish or not to destroy coastal environments. And it requires will on the part <strong>of</strong> consumers to educate themselves on the energy they use, the food (and particularly the seafood) they eat, the products they buy, the waste they create, and the chemicals they use in their houses and on their lawns. 68 Marine BiOdiversity
Hemera/Thinkstock/Andreas Meyer The time to act is now, if we are to ensure a healthy and sustainable future for the environments that cover three-quarters <strong>of</strong> the surface <strong>of</strong> our globe—the environments that make ours a beautiful, blue planet. The narwhal (Monodon monoceros) has inspired myths and legends. We still have so much to learn <strong>One</strong> <strong>Ocean</strong>, <strong>Many</strong> WOrlds Of life 69
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One Ocean, Many Worlds of Life - Convention on Biological Diversity

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