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Indonesia’s global role in ocean protection and sustainability
Ocean health hangs in the balance and we need big, bold, collective actions to reverse the damage that has already been done.
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Diver and hard coral field on a 30-year-old lava flow in the Banda Sea, Banda Neira, Maluku. (Shutterstock.com/SergeUWPhoto)
Today, on June 8, we join the United Nations and the global community in celebrating the World Oceans Day with the theme “Revitalization -- Collective Action for the Ocean”.
It is a time when we pause and celebrate our ocean -- the ancestral home of all life on Earth. As humans, we may be separated by the continents, but it is the connectivity between nature and the ocean that sustains us, provides food and controls our climate. It is the ocean -- its diversity and vast ecosystems -- that sustains millions of people every day.
Despite disruptions on land, our ocean keeps on giving and sustaining life on the planet, providing benefits to billions of individuals and thousands of communities.
Tomorrow, on June 9, we also mark the Coral Triangle Day, celebrating the world’s epicenter of marine biodiversity. The Coral Triangle contains 76 percent of the world’s coral species, 37 percent of the world’s reef fish species and supports millions of people by providing their food and livelihoods.
However, our ocean and marine biodiversity are at a point where urgent help is needed, if they are to continue nourishing us for generations to come. Ocean health hangs in the balance and we need big, bold, collective actions to reverse the damage that has already been done, aid the ocean’s recovery and strengthen its resilience against future shocks and disruptions.
Ocean revitalization through collective action is an important call to make this year because global leaders are on track to make important policy decisions that will affect the future of our planet and ocean.
Indonesia, as the world’s largest maritime country and the current president of the Group of 20, has the opportunity to take a leadership role in charting the future of our ocean and has the platform to shape courageous actions on ocean protection.
