By: Candace Newman, PhD – CPAWS National Director, Oceans Program

Which to save first – climate or oceans?

For many years, we’ve been thinking about climate change and threats to marine ecosystems as separate issues. Different problems requiring different solutions. If we take public transportation, use less heat and air conditioning, and replace our light bulbs we can save the climate; if we carry a water bottle, forgo straws, and make sustainable seafood choices we can save the oceans.

Climate and ocean issues are so complex, how could we not separate them to understand them better and identify solutions? When we look around the world, we see that we are not the only ones who have been thinking this way!

For decades, countries have largely overlooked the critical role oceans can play in mitigating climate change. In 2015, parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change agreed to accelerate their climate action, with the aim of keeping the global temperature rise in the 21^st century well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and ideally limiting any increase to 1.5°C.  Throughout the UN discussions, the role of oceans in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions was mostly absent, with the exception of some side conversations.

This year is different.

Discussions on climate change at the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP) kicked off in Madrid on 2 December. This global conference is designed to address how countries can fully implement the Paris Climate Change Agreement and build ambition ahead of 2020, when countries will submit new and updated climate action plans. This year, the importance of the ocean is front and centre, with the conference being called the “Blue COP”. Finally, there is clear science and international recognition that the climate and ocean are inextricably linked, and that the ocean plays a central role in regulating our climate, including by absorbing heat and carbon dioxide.

What is certain is that the global ocean can help countries meet their GHG emissions reduction goals through natural carbon storage in water and the seabed, and through protection and restoration of coastal habitats. The ocean can also provide climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, through the protection of the creation of strong, well-designed marine protected areas (MPAs).

Canadian oceans are one of the remaining places where marine ecosystems are still wild and largely intact.

Our oceans play a huge part in this effort. Canada is home to one of the largest ocean territories in the world. In fact, our oceans cover approximately 5,750,000 km², and Canada is just one of just a few countries surrounded by three different oceans – the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic. Canada has the longest coastline in the world, and our oceans host some of the world’s most unique species and complex ecosystems.

This year, right now, the Blue COP is the first real opportunity on the global stage to ensure that Canada’s oceans, as part of the global ocean, are given their rightful place in all climate conversations. This is the first real opportunity to address the climate and ocean crises in a holistic way. When we damage one, we damage the other. When we fix one, we fix the other.

As the climate crisis continues, all levels of government need to set more ambitious goals. We need to dramatically reduce our GHG emissions by minimizing activities that release carbon into the atmosphere and by prohibiting the destruction of habitats that would otherwise absorb carbon. These are the most urgent priorities for protecting our ocean and planet.

CPAWS hopes to see new climate plans and commitments come out of this year’s COP, and a new paradigm that seeks to address the combined climate and ocean issue.

For more information about Blue COP: https://unfccc.int/cop25