2015
Call to take the ocean’s vital role into
consideration in future climate negotiations
workshops, round tables, UNESCO
Campus open to students and
exhibitions that set the pace of
the Day were designed to highlight
the ocean’s essential role in climate
processes. Yet international climate
negotiations have not paid nearly
enough attention to it.
UN Photo/Martine Perret - A woman is collecting
fish and sipu at sunset in the Dili District in TimorLeste
Six months ahead of the Paris
Climate Conference (COP21) that
will take place at the end of 2015,
World Oceans Day, celebrated
on 8 June each year, provided an
opportunity to launch a Call to
take the ocean into account in
climate negotiations. This Call
echoes the recommendations
formulated by representatives
of the scientific community and
civil society through a day of
discussions organized by the
Intergovernmental Oceanographic
Commission (IOC) of UNESCO
and the Ocean and Climate
Platform* at UNESCO
Headquarters.
The Day was opened by UNESCO
Director-General Irina Bokova in
the presence, notably, of the French
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Laurent
Fabius, Under-Secretary-General for
Legal Affairs and United Nations
Legal Counsel and UN-Oceans Focal
Point, Miguel de Serpa Soares, and
the Director of the French National
Museum of Natural History and
representative of the Ocean and
Climate Platform, Gilles Bœuf. The
30
“It is imperative that we improve our
understanding of the link between ocean
and climate, and that we raise awareness
regarding what we already know” declared
the Director-General of UNESCO,
recalling the launch of the Ocean &
Climate Platform at UNESCO a year
ago “to share scientific knowledge
with negotiators and the general
public”.
“There can be no sustainable development
without a living ocean. Any attempt to
reach a climate agreement ]\