--- title: Peter Thomson: How to Save Our Oceans and Marine Life description: The United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean writes about the predicament facing our oceans. canonical: https://time.com/5669048/ocean-warming-climate-change/ author: Peter Thomson article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-09-12T11:13:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:21.258Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Ocean Is in Trouble and Current Global Commitments Aren’t Enough to Save It og:description: We all have a stake in the Ocean's health, writes the UNSG's Special Envoy for the Ocean og:url: https://time.com/5669048/ocean-warming-climate-change/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Ocean Is in Trouble and Current Global Commitments Aren’t Enough to Save It twitter:description: We all have a stake in the Ocean's health, writes the UNSG's Special Envoy for the Ocean twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Ocean Is in Trouble and Current Global Commitments Aren’t Enough to Save It > Sponsored content. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: TIME Special Climate Issue [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Special Climate Issue](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/APAionWI.m3u8) (0:59)  _Published 2019-09-12. As climate change reaches a fever pitch TIME explores what the world needs to do to save the planet._ by [Peter Thomson](https://time.com/author/peter-thomson/) ## Peter Thomson Sep 12, 2019 11:13 AM UTC by [Peter Thomson](https://time.com/author/peter-thomson/) ## Peter Thomson Sep 12, 2019 11:13 AM UTC  Harry Campbell for TIME As you’ve likely heard, the ocean’s health is in trouble. You’re probably aware of overfishing and the harmful practices of fisheries driving a third of the planet’s fish stocks toward extinction, and you surely know about the unconscionable amount of pollution, in particular plastic, that we dump in the ocean. But that’s not the worst of it. The ocean is steadily warming; its oxygen levels are falling; and it is becoming more acidic, making conditions for life below the waves ever harder. Planet-­warming greenhouse gases are the common enemy in that trio of changes. And by now we all know who has been creating those gases. When you’re a grandfather like me, and you care more about the well-being of your grandchildren than about your own creature comforts, there’s no time for idle behavior. Last year, a report from the U.N.’s Inter­governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) revealed that as global warming moves from 1.5°C above pre­industrial levels to 2°, already observable trends—like the worsening of extreme weather, rising sea levels and loss of ­biodiversity—will be exacerbated. The report also indicated that when we go above 2° warming, we lose the planet’s coral reefs, the vast nurseries that foster life in the ocean. We have no idea how the ocean’s biome will function without them or what that will mean for our eco­system. The predicament is that the planet is still on a ­devastating course toward 3° to 4° global warming.  The Great Barrier Reef in Australia experienced its second major bleaching event in 2 years in March 2017. Dean Miller—Greenpeace And yet, the IPCC report notes, it is still possible to stay at 1.5°. The good news is that we have a plan. It’s multi­faceted and requires a radical change of human production and consumption patterns, but it will succeed if people from all walks of life get behind it. On a global level, we must exercise fidelity to the Paris Agreement; to the U.N.’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including Goal 14 (conservation and ­sustainable use of the ocean’s resources); and to the broad mosaic of multilateral agreements supporting them. Beyond that, it is vital that we establish new law for marine bio­diversity beyond national jurisdictions. There is already a conference under way at the U.N. working on this issue, as there is a growing scientific consensus that we need to move toward a goal of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030.  Students from the Environmental Care Movement (GPL) clean up rubbish on the Coastal Tourism Area of Lhok Bubon, in Indonesia on Aug.18, 2019. Nurul Fahmi—SOPA Images/Sipa USA On an individual level, we all have a role to play as well. In my own work, one of my top priorities is putting an end to the billions of dollars in government subsidies worldwide that go mostly to industrial fleets chasing diminishing stocks of fish—and ensuring that the public funds saved are spent on beneficial measures like establishing and enforcing marine-­protected areas. But everyone, from government officials to business executives to scientists to students, has the ability to make a difference. We can choose not to use nonessential plastics. We can consume seafood only from sustainable, legally caught stocks. We can get serious about reducing our carbon footprints, so we are on the right side of global efforts toward a carbon-neutral world by 2050. Finally, we must scale up ocean science. We increasingly understand how little we actually know, and in these precarious times, it is essential that we have a firm grasp on whether we can afford to add new stressors to the ocean’s ecosystem. All of this, and much more, is necessary if we want to deliver on the plan to save life in the ocean. Considering that every second breath we take comes from the ocean, it is clear we must. --- This is one article in a series on the state of the planet’s response to climate change. [Read the rest of the stories](https://time.com/climate-change-solutions) and sign up for [One.Five, TIME’s climate change newsletter.](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletters/?newsletter%5Fname=climate&source=article-climate-footer) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5669048/ocean-warming-climate-change/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5669048/ocean-warming-climate-change/"},"headline":"The Ocean Is in Trouble and Current Global Commitments Aren’t Enough to Save It","datePublished":"2019-09-12T11:13:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:43:21.258Z","description":"We all have a stake in the Ocean's health, writes the UNSG's Special Envoy for the Ocean","url":"https://time.com/5669048/ocean-warming-climate-change/","keywords":["climate change","Climate 2019"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Peter Thomson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/peter-thomson/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate-change/","name":"climate change"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5669048/ocean-warming-climate-change/","name":"The Ocean Is in Trouble and Current Global Commitments Aren’t Enough to Save It"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Special Climate Issue","description":"As climate change reaches a fever pitch TIME explores what the world needs to do to save the planet.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/APAionWI/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-09-12T09:34:53.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/APAionWI.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5669048/ocean-warming-climate-change/","duration":"PT59S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5669048/ocean-warming-climate-change/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```