Time Is Now To Safeguard 30 Percent Of Our Planet By 2030

BY: KRISTY HAMILTON

Our home is more than where we lay our head down to sleep at night. The health of Planet Earth affects us all -- from the air we breathe to the soil that grows our food. In the face of another possible mass extinction, the International Ocean Film Festival has partnered with the 30 X 30 initiative to safeguard 30 percent of our oceans by 2030. 

“The IOFF is very excited to be aligned with Ocean Unite's 30x30 initiative, the leading organization in building momentum to engage, activate and accelerate the changes we need to achieve the goals of protecting 30 percent of the ocean by 2030,” said Ana Blanco, Executive Director of the International Ocean Film Festival. “We have been impressed with Ocean Unite's ability to gather key stakeholders around the world and help accelerate the necessary action needed to achieve this one, very important goal. Our oceans and we as humans depends on it.”

One-third of the planet is the starting mark -- the level of protection needed to maintain the valuable benefits humans derive from nature, such as safe drinking water, fish protein for 3 billion people, climate maintenance, and biodiversity home to 80 percent of all life on the Earth.

In the brief time humans have lived on this planet, we have domesticated livestock, switched to an agricultural lifestyle, and trundled into the Industrial Revolution, puffing out pollution in the name of progress. All of these changes have had radical effects on ecosystems. Today, the biomass of humans and livestock together far surpass that of wild mammals, according to a study published in PNAS (≈0.16 Gt C and ≈0.007 Gt C, respectively).

Tides and ocean currents in the Bahamas sculpted the sand and seaweed beds into these fluted patterns in much the same way that winds sculpted the sand dunes in the Sahara Desert. Image courtesy Serge Andrefouet, University of South Florida Instrument: Landsat 7 - ETM+ Credit: NASA/GSFC/Landsat

The 30 X 30 initiative is, so to speak, a Global Deal for Nature (GDN). Paired with the Paris Climate Agreement, the team hope to keep below a 1.5°C rise in average global temperature and save as much of life’s biodiversity as possible. Many creatures are already slipping towards extinction, with 41 percent of amphibians threatened, 30 percent of sharks, rays and chimeras, 25 percent of mammals, and 14 percent of birds, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

“The challenges we face in protecting our oceans, their ecosystems, and the environment are large but not insurmountable. By joining forces with other like minded organizations, people, and key stakeholders, we are able to garner more momentum, more strength in numbers and thus more impact,” added Blanco.

Moving towards this 30x30 declaration, a group of scientists have published “a policy framework based on scientific guidelines” that pair with nature and climate deals to “identify specific threats and drivers of biodiversity loss, and discuss costs of implementation of a GDN.”

At a tipping point for action, together in solidarity we must stand, say conservationists with the 30 X 30 initiative. Along with other organizations across the globe, including the National Geographic Society and the Wyss Foundation, The International Ocean Film Festival has joined in the effort. 

“Together we can achieve what each of us is aiming for, and we can do it better together,” said Blanco. “Time is of the essence and we need to collaborate to effect broader change. By partnering with Ocean Unite during the film festival, with more than 5,000 visitors we hope to get more people involved, understand the urgency and raise our voices in unison to take action.”

The 17th Annual International Ocean Film Festival is from March 12-15, 2020. Buy tickets here.