Dear <<First Name>>,

In early September, the Global Sustainable Development Report was launched, ahead of the UN Summit on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at midway to 2030. The report is issued every four years and was peer reviewed by 104 researchers from many disciplines. The summary of shortfalls makes sobering reading: Only two of the 36 SDG targets reviewed were on track. Fourteen showed 'fair' progress, with targets just in reach if efforts are stepped up. Twelve, including for poverty and ecosystem conservation, showed limited or no progress. Eight targets are still deteriorating, among them sustainable fishing, reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, food security, and prevention of species extinctions.

Nature comments that growing public awareness is a bright spot, however, that does not yet translate into adequate action by governments, companies and citizens. Government regulation is considered essential to avoid putting the achievement off for several decades. So it was good to see that the UN General Assembly endorsed the SDGs again at the end of the Summit. The governments now need to follow this up with concrete plans, legislation and budget allocation with annual targets to mobilise the people and resources required for positive change. Debt relief for low income countries is essential to direct resources towards poverty eradication, good health and educational services to create opportunities for locally adapted solutions.

September also saw a rise in concern about a staggering one billion tonnes of food being wasted every year, while up to 783 million fellow-humans around the world are facing hunger. Ahead of the International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste Reduction, on 29 September, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) are sounding the alarm over losses amounting to 13 per cent of the world’s food in the supply chain before products even hit the shelves, and a further 17 per cent lost in households and retail. Stopping food loss and waste boosts food security, saves resources and helps reduce our carbon footprint.

Meanwhile the Fish Week at the World Trade Organization (WTO) saw public pressure by civil society organisations to speed up ratification of the 2022 agreement to reduce harmful fisheries subsidies for good and also reduce waste. In combination with larger inshore exclusion zones for industrial vessels at national level this would give small-scale fisheries a new lease of life. More governments need to deposit their formal acceptance for the treaty to enter into force.

Millions turned out onto the streets for global climate strike called by Fridays for Future and supported by countless other organisations for 15 and 17 September 2023 in towns and cities around the globe. Mundus maris supported this initiative and invited members and friends to turn out en masse. Weaning the fossil industry from subsidies and investing massively in renewable energies is more urgent than ever. Johan Rockstrøm, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany, summarised the latest planetary health check in the Time magazine: “Humanity has reached a saturation point on planet Earth. There is no atmospheric space left to safely add more greenhouse gases, we cannot lose more intact nature or wild species, the oceans are at or beyond biological carrying capacity.”

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Cornelia E. Nauen and the entire Mundus maris team

Activities around the world