More and more people realise that climate change and its various ramifications are starting to disrupt what was still perceived as 'normality' by many, at least in economically richer parts of the globe. That new 'normality' will not go away for decades, even if we stopped CO2 emissions and overharvesting of natural resources in the ocean and on land overnight. However, if we do not act NOW, it will become much worse. The largest part of the cost of delayed action and failure to implement international agreements and enforce national legislation is currently being borne by those already heftily affected by such extreme events. But effects can also be seen through gradual migration within countries from drying parts in the interior to the coast, as we observe in Sahel countries. The European Environment Agency put out its first State of the European Environment Report in December 2019. No doubt, business as usual will be significantly more expensive than finally taking action.

So, let's stop the sterile and false mental construct of pitching the environment against the economy. The opposite is true. But we do need to stop appropriating the good things of the ocean and the entire Earth privately and forcing the costs on the public and within the public on those who are already most vulnerable and weakly or not at all represented in political processes.

The even stronger resolve for 2020 is that Together We Can. Together, we'll overcome the roadblocks and difficulties and find solutions; together, we shall finally implement what has been negotiated already in international agreements, such as the Paris Agreement, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Law of the Sea, the Sustainable Development Goals. The new decade is our common chance to implement what we have already agreed and to fill the remaining gaps in still needed fresh commitments. 2020 is billed as the super-year and start of the super-decade when the time of delivery has come. We're providing inputs to the stock taking at the UN Ocean Conference in June in Lisbon.

Our work will remain focused on engaging as many people as we can reach through the sciences and arts to be part of the many and diverse solutions to the crisis. We continue our active participation in academe and also remain committed to strengthening the capacities of small-scale fishers, women and men, as part of the SSF Academy so that they can be a constructive force in the transitions to living sustainably with the ocean rather than being victimised and further marginalised. 

We thank those stepping up donations in December and January so that the anonymous donor will now match the amount with almost the maximum of 2000 EUR promised.

Please continue making a difference by supporting these increasing efforts with a weekly or monthly donation to Mundus maris asbl (beneficiary), Belfius Bank, Rue de Linthout 224, 1040 Brussels, Belgium
IBAN: BE54 0688 9178 6297 | BIC: GKCCBEBB

Cornelia E. Nauen and the entire Mundus maris team

Activities around the world