|
27 June 2024, The Hague / Lorient. The non-profit organisation The Ocean and Us has partnered with the professional offshore sailing Team Malizia to rally support for a moratorium on deep-sea mining and secure the protection of the High Seas, our global commons.  Team Malizia carries its A Race We Must Win - Climate Action Now! slogan on its sails and measures valuable Ocean data to help further research as they race around the world ©️ Thomas Deregnieaux/ Qaptur / Team Malizia This collaboration with a key partner in the sailing world comes as The Ocean and Us launches the Ocean Hope Expedition, connecting people to the ocean and building collective resistance to deep-sea mining, before the International Seabed Authority meets in July 2025 to decide whether to open the High Seas to mining. The High Seas make up almost half of our planet. This vast area is home to a remarkable diversity of life from the surface to the deep-sea, with countless species yet to be discovered. The High Seas belong to no single nation and are therefore vulnerable to the increasing pressures by some to exploit resources in this last wild frontier. Deep-sea mining is an emerging extractive industry that will irreversibly destroy ancient habitats, affect the ocean systems that sustain us, and will disturb locked-away carbon. If allowed to go ahead, deep-sea mining will unleash a new era of ecological destruction on our already ailing planet. Momentum to stop deep-sea mining is growing. 27 governments are calling for a moratorium or pause on deep-sea mining, as are hundreds of civil society groups, scientists, financial institutions as well as many tech and electric vehicle companies demonstrating that metals from the deep-sea are not needed for the energy transition. Despite this momentum, time is running out. “We have lost over two thirds of global wildlife and each one of us is feeling the impacts of the climate crisis. We cannot afford to embark on a new form of ecocide. The good news is this is an industry that has not yet started and for which global resistance is growing. I am therefore thrilled to partner with Team Malizia to bring hope and importantly empowerment to all and stop this next disaster from starting. Together with Team Malizia and others across the sports, music and art world, we can ramp up support to stop this reckless industry” - Farah Obaidullah, Founding Director of The Ocean and Us.  Team Malizia and The Ocean and Us have been working together several times over the past year, including in New York this spring © Farah Obaidullah / The Ocean and Us “As sailors, we spend a large part of our time on the High Seas, providing a window to the world on this often overlooked yet significant part of our planet. With our sport comes a responsibility to be stewards of the ocean. We can no longer leave ocean conservation to scientists and activists alone. We must have all hands on deck to protect the global ocean and prevent deep-sea mining from starting” - Boris Herrmann, Skipper of Team Malizia. Although they are now officially announcing their partnership, Team Malizia and The Ocean and Us have already joined forces several times this past year. Most recently, Farah Obaidullah and Boris Herrmann participated in a panel discussion in New York on the urgency to protect the High Seas. The event was co-organised by Team Malizia and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment as part of the sailing team’s Ocean conference series. The event featured high-level speakers, scientists, and ocean advocates, and was endorsed by the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.
Later this year Farah Obaidullah, Founder of The Ocean and Us, will embark on the Ocean Hope Expedition, travelling down the western coast of the Americas from Alaska to Chile and engaging with key stakeholders to gather support for a global moratorium on deep-sea mining. Along the way, local, regional and international personalities from the worlds of music, sailing, art, conservation and government will join her to spark conversations and unite to prevent this next disaster from happening. The journey will be chronicled on YouTube and other social media to gain worldwide support. ________________ To learn more, receive sponsorship packages and support The Ocean Hope Expedition, contact The Ocean and Us at [email protected] , or visit the dedicated donation page at https://donorbox.org/support-ocean-and-us Comments are closed.
|
|
|
|
Certified by:
|
|