00:00 More on this, we're joined by Romain Troublet.
00:02 He is the president of the Ocean and Climate Platform.
00:04 Thanks so much for being with us here on France 24.
00:07 I know there's a lot to say about what's going wrong
00:10 when it comes to the world's ocean,
00:12 but is there any reason to be optimistic?
00:14 - Yeah, things are going wrong.
00:18 It gets warmer, and as you heard,
00:19 it's one of the key aspect of the ocean,
00:22 because when you get one degree fever,
00:25 you are in your bed,
00:26 and the same for the ecosystems on the ocean.
00:28 When they got one degree warming,
00:31 and that's which is the case today,
00:33 and they have a big threat for the marine species.
00:37 Of course, there is also a ground for hope
00:41 because the ocean is one of the most resilient
00:43 ecosystem on planet.
00:46 As soon as you protect it,
00:47 as soon as you diminish your impact on the ocean,
00:51 you can see some progress pretty quickly.
00:54 Of course, what you see here is pollutions
00:56 all over the place.
00:56 We just talked about it at the UNESCO
00:58 over the last couple of days,
01:01 and this plastic pollution is everywhere,
01:04 and the topic today is not more recycling it.
01:09 The topic is how do we plan to reduce
01:12 the pollution of plastic in the coming decades,
01:15 and how we can do it globally, at global scale.
01:18 - So where do we stand?
01:19 What kind of progress has been made
01:21 in protecting the world's oceans?
01:23 - There are today some areas
01:26 that we try to protect.
01:27 We call them the marine protected areas
01:29 where we stop as much as possible
01:32 the activities of humans to let the ecosystem
01:35 to strive and to cope with the changing conditions
01:39 of the ecosystems.
01:41 There are a lot of efforts to be done today
01:45 still on the carbon dioxide we put in the atmosphere,
01:47 of course, the Paris Agreement is a key element.
01:51 But also, there's a lot of effort to do
01:53 the way we fish the ocean.
01:54 We fish today, we destroy completely the fish stocks
01:57 because we fish badly, we fish too small organisms,
02:01 too small fishes, we pollute them with plastic,
02:04 we pollute them also with chemicals.
02:06 So everything that is happening in the ocean,
02:09 the solutions are on land in our policy,
02:12 in our politics, in our commitment.
02:15 And to achieve all this, research is also
02:18 the key player in the game.
02:20 - Let's focus on France for a moment.
02:22 How is France doing when it comes to protecting
02:24 its maritime areas?
02:26 - Well, France has a very strong say
02:29 in the international bodies,
02:32 whether it is high seas negotiation governance,
02:36 or we need to make a treaty,
02:38 France is very pushy on that for the ban of deep sea mining,
02:41 which is a very hot topic today,
02:44 as we have to decide this in July, coming July.
02:47 So a very strong say, but also in France,
02:50 in the French territory, there is a huge work to be done
02:53 on how to protect better our own backyard, our own area,
02:58 so that fishermen can strive in the future,
03:01 can still make a living out of fishing.
03:04 And also that the ecosystem is catching up,
03:07 and catching up to produce the oxygen we need,
03:10 to produce the carbon capture that we also need,
03:13 and to produce the proteins that some of us
03:16 is living on.
03:18 - You've mentioned pollution,
03:19 and plastic pollution in particular.
03:21 Sea level rise has also accelerated in recent decades.
03:24 What kind of threat does it pose to humans?
03:28 - Well, sea level rise will be impacting a lot of people,
03:32 mostly in developing countries,
03:34 where there is not much infrastructure,
03:35 or global politics, global adaptation policies.
03:40 But sea level rise will also affect developed countries
03:42 like France, and you know, sea level rise,
03:45 what will we do?
03:46 It will go and make the sea going over the land,
03:51 and the cities, some whole neighborhood of cities
03:56 will have to be relocated in the coming decade,
03:59 or two decades.
04:01 It's a huge, if you imagine moving around a suburb,
04:05 or a neighborhood of a city, it's a huge work to do,
04:08 because of networks behind that.
04:11 Or the history of people, I mean,
04:13 the roots where people have been living for decades
04:18 need to change because of this sea level that is rising.
04:22 And concrete, concrete is not the solution.
04:27 We need to do it with nature, not against nature.
04:31 We need to team up with nature,
04:33 not fight against nature as we do for the last 40 years now.
04:37 - Given all of your expertise,
04:39 are you hopeful that a difference can be made,
04:41 that we can make a difference
04:42 when it comes to the world's oceans?
04:44 - Of course we can make a difference,
04:47 and we have to fight for this effort,
04:51 and we have to believe that we can make it
04:53 in order to achieve something in the future.
04:55 So everything is up for grab,
04:57 and any solution that we can deploy,
05:00 any education we can promote,
05:03 any engagement we can trigger is the key today.
05:08 We need to really care about this ocean,
05:11 as our life is depending on it.
05:14 This is the case.
05:15 - Okay, we'll leave it there.
05:16 Romain Troublet, President of the Ocean and Climate Platform.
05:19 Thanks so much for joining us here on World Oceans Day.
05:21 We appreciate it.
