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} Ocean Vision
It’s time to supercharge our actions to
protect and regenerate the ocean, and what
better moment than World Oceans Day?
I’m thrilled to share our plans for a new
partnership between Ocean Unite and one
of the Virgin family’s latest additions, Virgin
Voyages, to push for protecting 30 per cent
of the ocean by 2030.
TIME FOR 30X30
The ocean and the planet has never been at greater risk. Just a
few weeks ago, the UN released a truly terrifying report on the
state of life on Earth. A million species are at risk of extinction.
That’s about a quarter of all lifeforms on the planet, rising to
over a third for marine mammals and nearly a third for sharks. We have
already lost half of all live coral reefs and the rest will disappear within
decades as the ocean becomes hotter and more acidic. Plastic pollution
has increased ten-fold in a single generation.
Unfortunately we would better brace ourselves for more bad news. A
Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate
being completed later this year will chart the unprecedented changes
happening as our seas and frozen places heat up. The Silent Spring
foretold in my youth is looming larger than ever over land, sea and ice.
But these warnings must be a call to action, not despair.
If we want our seas vibrant not silent we need transformational change.
That’s the clear message of the UN report. And that change is within our
power. The climate crisis is the third most destructive force behind the
biodiversity crisis, but the top two are our use of land and ocean and our
direct exploitation of its species. For the ocean that means excessive and
destructive fishing, and pollution from agriculture, mining, shipping and
plastics. These are all things we can do something about, and relatively fast.
We can and we must, because the threats to the ocean are not some future
prophesy, they are endangering people, livelihoods and nature now.
Business has a key role to play in this action, but not business-as-usual;
a new kind of business driven by purpose and partnership as well as
profit. At Virgin Voyages, we are determined to lead the way in the quest
for a healthy, protected, regenerating ocean. And at the heart of Ocean
Unite and Virgin Voyage’s joint mission to supercharge ocean protection
is our 30x30 vision: the goal to strongly protect 30 percent of the ocean
by 2030.
Our partnership got off to a flying – or, more accurately, diving – start
with our first ever collaboration which saw the first ever submersible
dive to the very bottom of the Belize Blue Hole, one of the ocean’s most
mesmerising and mysterious places. For me, it was an unforgettable
experience, and huge privilege, to plunge to the depths of this uncharted,
unknown jewel of the sea, and a profound reminder of just how much
we have to learn and to lose.
Continued on page 50
The red dock on Necker
made from recycled plastic
Image from Greg Rose
Image from Jussi Oksanen
40 } Issue 10