8th ANNUAL ELISABETH MANN BORGESE
OCEAN LECTURE
Blue Planet Under Threat: Challenges and
Opportunities at Rio+20
Friday 8th June 2012 - World Oceans Day
A Chronology of Sustainable
Development Initiatives
 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment – Stockholm
 1980 IUCN World Conservation Strategy
 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development
(UNCED) – Rio
 Agenda 21 (esp. Chapter 17) / Rio Declaration / Convention on
Biological Diversity / Framework Convention on Climate Change
 2000 Millennium Summit & Declaration / Millennium
Development Goals
 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) –
Johannesburg
 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (“Rio+20”)
Despite strong language in the 1972
Stockholm Declaration, the 1992 Rio
Declaration and the 2002 Johannesburg
Plan of Implementation, governments have
failed to reverse or even halt the
degradation of the oceans
… and now we now face the urgent and
immediate threat of climate change
Negative Trends
News continues to be bad on the ecological status of
our coasts and oceans:
e.g.,
 Coastal habitats – the ‘blue forests’ – are disappearing
at rates even more rapid than inland forests
 Ninety percent of top predatory fish in the oceans
have been reported to be fished-out
 Loss of biological diversity continues
 ‘Dead zones’ of oxygen depletion from pollution and
harmful algal blooms increase every year
Commitments, progress & gaps
 Some progress has been made in the past 20 years in
implementing the outcomes of major summits for the
ocean, but they have been few, as evidenced by the
deteriorating state of ocean ecosystems and species.
 Many of the gaps in the implementation of the outcomes
of the major summits are due to governance and
institutional deficiencies
 Time-bound targets, specific promises and commitments,
while useful as motivational and aspirational goals, are
insufficient mechanisms on their own in leading to the
desired results.
Good, bad, worse …
 Good progress has been reported regarding the
control of three categories of land-based pollutants:
persistent organic pollutants, radioactive substances,
and hydrocarbons
 Mixed results regarding the control of heavy metals
and sediment transport
 Worsening conditions reported for sewage, nutrients,
marine litter and the physical alteration and
destruction of habitats
Objectives & Themes for Rio+20
 Objectives for Rio+20:
 Securing commitment to sustainable development
 Addressing progress and implementation gaps in
current commitments
 Addressing new challenges
 Themes:
 A green economy to obtain sustainable development
 Poverty eradication
 Improving the institutional framework for sustainable
development across nations
There are 7 issues to be addressed
during Rio+20:
 Jobs – focusing on labour markets and producing and
redistributing global wealth – ‘Green Jobs’
 Energy – sustainable energy – improve efficiency and increase
use of renewable resources
 Cities – growth is desirable as long as cities improve resource use
and reduce pollution and poverty
 Food – rethink how the world grows, shares and consumes food
– central to hunger and poverty eradication
 Water – clean and accessible water for everyone
 Disaster-resilient societies – earthquakes, floods, droughts,
tsunamis, etc. Urgent need for resilience
 Oceans – heavily affected by human activities including
pollution, ecosystem depletion and habitat destruction
Nothing less that a renewed
commitment to action will do!
 The timeline for action is shrinking
 As we continue to delay the urgent and critical action
needed to address these negative trends, environmental
conditions continue to deteriorate, coastal communities
continue to suffer, and the action needed to mitigate these
impacts becomes more costly and difficult
 Urgent and direct intervention can no longer be delayed if
we hope to provide a sustainable ocean for current and
future generations
Despite the existence of a well-intentioned
framework, the international community has
acknowledged that it has fallen short of achieving
environmental sustainability and that renewed
political commitment is urgently needed to fully
implement the targets and commitments of the
previous Earth Summits.
A Central Question:
Will the further implementation of the
complex set of measures that are already
in place make the difference, or are more
drastic and innovative solutions needed?