Ocean Impact

The ocean regulates our climate, weather, and sets the conditions for life. It was US President John F Kennedy who famously once said “We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it, we are going back from whence we came."

This beautiful short film from IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas, narrated by Caroline Merner, explores this relationship and how radically scaled up and full and effective ocean protection is part of the blueprint to secure a brighter future for us all.

Many communities closely tied to the fate of the ocean already understand this as they see ‘their’ ocean changing in challenging ways before their very eyes, removing hitherto assumed benefits on which they depend.

There is a growing realisation as the world suffers from losses in biodiversity coupled with increasingly intense impacts from climate change that we have but a few years to ensure that famed ‘tipping points’ in global climatic stability simply become ‘turning points’ as we work towards a more positive future. Securing ocean health is fundamental to that new paradigm as science shows us the fundamental role our ocean plays in global health.