At an event in Athletes Park, IPSO and the HSA with contributions from international marine biologists and experts, stressed the extreme speed of changes occurring in the ocean, such as acidification, warming and de-oxygenation.
IPSO Scientific Director, Dr Alex Rogers
stated: “We have a brief moment that we can act and to divert the future that
we are currently facing. I am very disappointed at the negative outcomes for
the protection of marine biodiversity at Rio”.
The
state of the effort to save the oceans should not be understated and despite
significant disappointments this week regarding legal frameworks for marine
protected areas, the work and research will continue.
Matthew Gianni , Policy Director at the
Deep Sea Conservation Coalition commented “There are some elements that point
to a way forward that can be used to make some changes. If what was agreed does
represent a commitment by governments -
we expect to see some action in the coming months and years. The problems won’t go away – and we are
committed to continue working on them”.
A further positive outcome of the Rio+20
conference was that oceans campaigners feel that at least something was done to
help keep the oceans alive, and they will use that wave of momentum to push for
more changes over the coming years.
Charlotte Smith of Oceans Inc concluded “Oceans
are on the record in a way that they weren’t 20 years ago – and we will hold
governments to this record”
Photo courtesy of Moyan_Brenn via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Photo courtesy of Moyan_Brenn via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
